Market shows traction towards higher capacity consumer storage
Market declines after growing for six consecutive quarters
New Delhi/Gurgaon: The India Consumer Storage Flash Memory market comprising Micro SD cards, SD cards and Flash drives registered 20.5 million unit shipments during 2Q (April-June) CY 2015. In this quarter (2Q CY 2015) India Consumer Storage Flash Memory market witnessed a 22% sequential decline in unit shipment terms over the previous quarter (1Q CY 2015, that is, January-March 2015). The market witnessed a decline after growing consequently over six quarters. This was revealed in CMR’s India Quarterly Consumer Storage Flash Memory Market Review, 2Q CY 2015, September 2015 release.
Market Leadership
In the overall India Consumer Storage Flash Memory market SanDisk strengthened its leadership in 2Q CY 2015. The company’s market share grew to 35% in 2Q CY 2015 from 27% in the previous quarter in terms of unit shipments. Transcend regained its ‘Number 2’ spot and Strontium witnessed a 7% sequential growth in 2Q CY 2015 by units shipped.
Capacity Trends
Overall shipments of consumer storage flash memory devices declined from 26.2 million in 1Q CY 2015 to 20.5 million units in 2Q CY 2015. In terms of capacity, 8 GB remained the top contributor with a 36% market share in terms of unit shipments. The market continued to witness traction towards higher capacity segments of consumer storage flash memory devices. In line with this trend, the market share of 16 GB flash memory devices grew by 3% quarter on quarter in 2Q CY 2015 vis-à-vis 1Q CY 2015, as detailed in Figure 1 below.
“Pen drive shipments were impacted in 2Q CY 2015 due to imposition of anti-dumping duty on the product by end of April 2015, which resulted in reduced imports in the months of May and June”, stated Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst, InfoTech and Channels Practices, CyberMedia Research.
“Shipments of ‘unbranded’ consumer storage flash memory devices declined sequentially by 39% in 2Q CY 2015. Vendors playing in this segment had shipped extensively in the previous quarter. These players liquidated the piled up inventory of the previous quarter in 2Q CY 2015, which was the leading reason for a sharp decline in overall Micro SD card shipments in 2Q CY 2015”, Narinder concluded.
Notes for Editors
- CyberMedia Research (CMR) is a pioneering market intelligence and consulting firm that runs a comprehensive quarterly market update on the India Consumer Storage Flash Memory device market. CMR’s India Quarterly Consumer Storage Flash Memory Market Review covers Micro SD cards, SD cards and Flash drives sold via distributors and retail outlets. It does not include bundled or ‘grey’ market shipments or units brought from abroad by individuals as a part of personal baggage.
- CMR uses the term “shipments” to describe the number of consumer storage flash memory devices leaving the factory premises for OEM sales or stocking by distributors and retailers. For the convenience of media, the term ‘shipment’ is sometimes replaced by “sales” in the press release, but this reflects the market size in terms of units of consumer storage flash memory devices and not their absolute value. In the case of flash memory devices imported into the country, it represents the number leaving the first warehouse to OEMs, distributors and retailers.
