Over 18.2 mn 4G devices shipped in Q2 2016: Report

With content and video consumption set to grow with 4G, over 18.2 million 4G devices were shipped in the second quarter of 2016 as against 15.4 million in the first quarter this year, market research firm CyberMedia Research (CMR) said on Friday.

Of the 4G devices shipped, 97.8 per cent were smartphones followed by data cards at 1.6 per cent and tablet PCs at 0.6 per cent.

According to CMR's 'Quarterly India LTE Devices' report, Samsung, Micromax and Reliance's LYF brands are the leaders, with 41 per cent, 8.62 per cent and 8.54 per cent market share, respectively, in mobile phones segment.

In tablets, Samsung was at first position with 40 per cent, Apple stood second with 30.79 per cent and iBall ranked third with 8.3 per cent market share.

However, within data cards, Samsung, ZTE, Micromax and iBall were the only players shipping 4G devices in the second quarter of 2016, holding 63.39 per cent, 20.02 per cent and 16.43 per cent markets share, respectively.

Brands like Vivo, Oppo, LeEco, Gionee, OnePlus and InFocus to double their 4G shipments to meet the surge in demand as Reliance's Jio goes live, the report noted.

"We expect this year to end with around 125 million cumulative 4G devices and Jio would want this base to touch 250-300 million by 2017 end," said Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst, Telecoms, CMR.