India consumer storage flash memory unit shipments touch 23 million units recording a 52% year-on-year growth and 17% sequential growth in 2Q CY 2014

SanDisk maintains top spot

8 GB continues to be fastest moving capacity across storage categories

The India Consumer Storage Flash Memory market comprising Micro SD cards, SD cards and Flash drives,  recorded a sequential growth of 17% to touch 23 million unit shipments in 2Q (April-June) 2014. Improved sentiments along with the price stability of flash memory products fueled the growth of India’s consumer storage flash memory market in 2Q CY 2014, which witnessed an impressive 52% year-on-year growth (April-June 2014 vis-à-vis April-June 2013). This was revealed in CMR’s India Quarterly Consumer Storage Flash Memory Market Review, 2Q CY 2014, September 2014 release.

Market Leadership

In the overall consumer storage flash memory market SanDisk continued to be the leader with a 35% share by unit shipments, recording an 18% sequential growth in 2Q CY 2014. Transcend maintained second spot followed by Strontium at number three spot. SanDisk was the market leader in all three product categories.

Capacity Trends

The 8 GB capacity flash memory unit remained the fastest moving SKU in 2Q CY 2014 with a 40% contribution in terms of unit shipments, an impressive sequential growth of 24% over 1Q CY 2014. The market witnessed traction towards higher capacity form factors like 16 GB and 32 GB, which witnessed sequential growth of 29% and 23% respectively, in 2Q CY 2014.

“With a fast reducing price gap between flash memory units, the market is showing a distinct movement towards higher capacities. As a result the market share of entry level units such as the 2 GB and 4 GB continued to show a declining trend”, stated Narinder Kumar, Analyst, InfoTech and Channels Practices, CyberMedia Research.

Unbranded micro SD cards / mobile cards contributed to a third of overall mobile card shipments in 2Q CY 2014. These mobile cards largely play in the entry-level 2 GB and 4GB capacity. In the 2 GB mobile cards segment, ‘unbranded’ collectively contributed to 85% of unit shipments, whereas their contribution was of the order of 49% in the 4 GB mobile cards segment during 2Q CY 2014.

Innovations

“Demand for OTG / dual connector pen drives grew on a small base during the April-June 2014 quarter with the launch of new SKUs by leading vendors. The future growth potential of this product largely hinges on factors like the level of ease of connectivity, usage, and data transfer as well as compatibility with a wide array of mobile handsets”, Narinder added.