India’s smartphone shipments take 5% quarterly hit in the April-June period

India is a seeing a divide among the purchasing trends of its rich and not-so-rich amid rising inflation. This trend is visible among India's 700 million smartphone users too. India's rich are increasingly buying and upgrading to new phones, while the lower end of the pyramid is putting off new mobile phone purchases as inflation pinches.

Data from market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research shows India's smartphone shipments fell 5 percent sequentially in the April-June quarter to around 37 million units as consumer demand declined.

The trend is more visible in the entry and budget segments, which make up for one-third of the total smartphone market.

Data from IDC and Counterpoint shows that the entry-level smartphone segment, which cost less than Rs 10,000 declined over 15 percent in quarter two, while feature phones declined 17 percent sequentially.

Meanwhile, mid-range smartphones grew 21 percent and the highest growth came from the premium segment, which grew 83 percent year-on-year.

Supply constraints that impacted smartphone sales in 2020 and 2021 have eased considerably, and now it is rising input costs and inflation that's making smartphones costlier.

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