Delhi tops India smartphone mkt

Top 30 cities of the country made up for 51 per cent of the entire smartphone market in the fourth quarter last year with New Delhi generating the maximum demand, closely followed by Mumbai, research firm IDC said on Thursday. However, with increasing appeal and penetration of smartphones in smaller cities and towns, tier II and III cities and beyond are expected to constitute a significant portion of the market in the near future, IDC said. Twenty five major tier II and III cities of India make up around 21.3 per cent of the Indian smartphone market. “With increasing data penetration and enhanced reach of eCommerce, the smartphone consumers in Tier II and III cities is becoming more aware and demanding,” IDC South Asia MD Jaideep Mehta said. He added that the 4G revolution promises to trigger the next wave of smartphone growth with 4G-enabled devices already overtaking 3G devices as the largest smartphone category. The top 5 cities of India made up about 60 per cent of the online smartphone sales in India. 4G devices made up around 45 per cent of the market in these cities.