India overtakes US to become 2nd largest smartphone market in Q3: Canalys report

India has overtaken the US to become the second largest smartphone market in the July-September 2018 quarter, according to a report by research firm Canalys.

India -- which saw a shipment of 40.4 million units during the third quarter -- was second to China where 100.6 million smartphones were shipped, the data showed. Smartphone shipment in the US was at 40 million units in the July-September 2018 period.

"India overtook the US this quarter to be the second largest market, though both countries were hit by weaker seasonal performance compared with last year," it said.

Worldwide smartphone shipments fell by 7.2% year-on-year to 348.9 million units during July-September 2018, a fourth consecutive quarter of decline, Canalys said.

"This was also the worst third quarter performance since 2015...Seven of the top 10 markets recorded year-on-year declines, caused by lengthening smartphone replacement cycles, worsening international trading conditions and competition from major Chinese vendors," it added.

The three markets (among the top 10) that registered growth were Indonesia (13.2%  increase y-o-y to 8.9 million units), Russia (11.5% jump y-o-y to 8.8 million units), and Germany (2.4% rise y-o-y to 5.5 million units).

China's smartphone shipment declined 15.2% y-o-y, India by 1.1% and the US by 0.4% in the September 2018 quarter.

Samsung led the vendor tally with 20.4% share in the said quarter, followed by Huawei (14.9%), Apple (13.4%), Xiaomi (9.6%), and Oppo (8.9%).

"The worldwide smartphone market faces an unprecedented challenge, while its dynamics are changing rapidly at both the vendor and country level. This is providing growth opportunities for aggressive vendors with the speed to respond quickly to market changes," Canalys Research Manager Rushabh Doshi said.