With 9% market share, Chinese phone maker Itel claims 217% growth in 2017

Chinese mobile manufacturer Transsion Holdings brand Itel phone has claimed the growth of 217 per cent in India for the year 2017. The company has emerged as the second largest player in the overall mobile phone market in India by capturing 9 per cent market share.

The Cyber Media Research (CMR) report has outlined that the company is one of the few mobile brands observed to have a strong growth trajectory in 2017 despite having a volatile year for overall industry.

The China-based company offers both feature and smartphones of various ranges starting from Rs 800. It also sells accessories and mobile pads.

Till 2016, the platform had claimed to sell over 70 million handsets worldwide since its inception in 2007. It has significant penetration in the African market.

The growth of Itel is significant because other Chinese brands mainly Vivo and Oppo are struggling to maintain their initial lead in the smartphone market. However, outpacing incumbent like Samsung, Xiaomi has emerged as the fastest growing smartphone brands in India.

Xiaomi has accounted for 24 percent of India’s smartphone market in the third quarter in 2017, which is over 6 percent rise from the last quarter when its market share was at 17 percent.

Samsung also controlled 24 percent marketshare with quarter-on-quarter growth of 39 percent.

Also Read: Xiaomi emerges as fastest growing smartphone brand in India: IDC

Notably, the demand for the feature phone isn’t going to die in India anytime soon. Indians had bought 164 million feature phones in 2017. The feature phone sales grew by 17 per cent in 2017 over the previous year, as per IDC.

The growth signifies that telecom users in smaller cities and rural areas still prefer functional benefits of feature phones such as low cost, durability and battery life amongst others.

Meanwhile, the sales and production of ‘Made In India’ mobile phones has also increased and will hit 22.5 crore mark this year. During the last fiscal, 17.5 crore of mobile handsets were manufactured in the country.