Sri Lanka ships 0.71 million mobile handsets in 2Q 2013; Nokia, Samsung and Micromax emerge as the Top 3 brands

Smartphone shipments double quarter-on-quarter to contribute 16.2% of total handset shipments in 2Q 2013

Android shipments account for over 96% smartphone shipments; Samsung is the market leader, followed by Micromax and Zigo Mobile

The Sri Lanka mobile phones market recorded sales of over 0.71 million units in 2Q (April-June) 2013. This was reported in the Sri Lanka Mobile Handsets Market Review, 2Q 2013, October 2013 release published today by premier IT, Telecoms and Semiconductor & Electronics, Infrastructure and Lifesciences market intelligence and advisory firm CyberMedia Research.

In the overall Sri Lanka mobile handsets market, Nokia emerged as the leader with a 30.5% share, followed by Samsung at second position with 19.4% and Micromax at third position with 15.3%, in terms of sales (unit shipments) during 2Q 2013.

Commenting on the results, Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst, CMR Telecoms Practice said, “As the results suggest, there has been a marginal increase in shipments of featurephones in Sri Lanka, while growth in smartphones has been comparatively much higher. Therefore, it becomes imperative for vendors to establish a strong presence in the latter segment.”

“Handset OEMs, especially Nokia must strengthen their smartphones portfolio to be able to monetise the increasing trend of adoption of smartphones amongst Sri Lanka mobile telephony subscribers,” Faisal added.

Smartphones

Smartphone sales (shipments) touched 0.12 million units in Sri Lanka during 2Q 2013. Samsung emerged as the leader in the smartphones segment with a 50.0% share in 2Q 2013, followed by Micromax with 9.0%. Zigo Mobile occupied third place with 8.8% share of shipments during the same period.

“The second quarter of 2013 saw a significant increase in the entry level Android smartphones in the island nation. More and more subscribers are now opting to shift from featurephones to smartphones in the urban areas as 3G coverage increases steadily. Due to this shift in consumer preference towards smartphones, many local apps were launched in the quarter that suit the needs of Sri Lanka smartphone users, particularly in the entertainment, and banking & insurance domains,” stated Tarun Pathak, Analyst, CMR Telecoms Practice.

“A significant level of activity can be noticed in the Sri Lanka mobile handsets market for the first time in 2Q 2013. Nokia launched its Lumia series under bundling agreements with all the operators, a first for the Sri Lanka mobile handsets market. Such partnerships are expected to drive volumes in the short term for Tier One smartphone vendors who enter into bundling arrangements with operators. However, one of the key differentiators going forward in the Sri Lanka smartphones market will be the presence of native killer apps for smartphones from vendors and operators,” Tarun concluded.