As Samsung remains at top again in both smartphones and overall handsets powered by the good performance of its flagship Galaxy S7/S7 Edge and popular J series, defeating Apple, It might surprise many, but Lyf, the smartphone brand from Reliance, has emerged as the fifth largest smartphone vendor in India as per the Q1 2016 figures of research firm Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service.

According to data from Counterpoint Research, Lyf cornered a 7% share of the smartphone market in the first quarter of the year, on the back of high demand for 4G LTE phones in India where two of three smartphones shipped supported the high speed broadband services.
Lyf also became the second largest LTE vendor in India ahead of Micromax and Lenovo.

“In first quarter of its inception, LYF instantly climbed to become one of the top five smartphone brands in India in terms of shipment volumes. Jio with its massive LTE network and scale could be the key player to watch out for as it has already become the second largest LTE phone supplier during the quarter,” said Tarun Pathak, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint.

The research firm though added that the strong shipment was more of ‘channel filling’ and the actual sell through or sales to end customers, will happen in April to June period as the operator starts full-fledged marketing.

Reliance Jio, the telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries BSE -1.48%, has said it is testing its service on about 500,000 users, many of whom use Lyf phones. It will launch full scale commercial operations once the base increases to a few million users, which his widely estimated to be towards the end of this year.

Apple recorded 62% annual growth in the first quarter despite of negative growth results globally for iPhones.

However, the big success story was the Chinese brands which recorded significant year-over-year growth numbers. Vivo was up +759 per cent, OPPO +183 per cent and Xiaomi +35 per cent as the Chinese brands captured 21 per cent share of total smartphone shipments in Q1 2016, says the report.

“The Indian smartphone market demand was healthy, as we saw newer brands enter with attractive offerings and aggressive pricing throughout the quarter. The demand for LTE smartphones remained strong as two out of three smartphone shipped was LTE capable. With 4G LTE capability, 5-inch and above screen size is becoming important for Indian consumers as more than 60 per cent of the smartphones shipped were phablets,” Pathak added.

The advent of advanced 4G LTE network infrastructure will also be a key catalyst in the country’s smartphone adoption in coming years, the research firm added, underpinning the role of 4G players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel BSE -2.28 % to drive this growth.

About 1.7 million Lyf phones were shipped into India from January to March, trailing No 4 Lenovo-Motorola that secured 8% share, No. 3 Intex which had a slightly higher share of 10%. Micromax retained its No. 2 slot.

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