Smartphone sales in India likely to grow 29.5%: Gartner

Smartphone sales in India are expected to rise at a healthy 29.5% this year while the same is likely to slow down globally to just 7%, research firm Gartner said on Wednesday.

Unlike previous years of double-digit growth, global smartphone sales are expected to grow 7% in 2016 over the previous year to 1.5 billion units.

In 2020, smartphone sales are on pace to total 1.9 billion units. The global market had grown 14.4% in 2015.

"The smartphone market will no longer grow at the levels it has reached over the last seven years. Smartphone sales recorded their highest growth in 2010, reaching 73%," Gartner research director Anshul Gupta said.

Since mature markets are saturated, the focus for many vendors is on India and China, he added.

"India has the highest growth potential. Sales of feature phones totaled 167 million units in 2015, 61% of total mobile phone sales in India," Gupta said.

Gartner estimates that 139 million smartphones will be sold in India in 2016, growing 29.5% year-on-year.

Average selling price (ASPs) of mobile phones in India remain under $70 (about Rs 4,650), and smartphones under $120 (about Rs 8,000) will continue to contribute around 50% of overall smartphone sales in 2016, it added.

Smartphone market has reached 90 per cent penetration in the mature markets of North America, Western Europe, Japan and Asia/Pacific, slowing future growth, Gartner said adding that users in these regions are not replacing or upgrading their smartphone as often as in previous years.