Android’s smartphone OS shipments rise in 2Q16
As shown in the below chart, Google Android (GOOG) (GOOGL) continued to be the dominant smartphone OS (operating platform) in India (INDA). Its share rose from 90% in 2015 to 97.1% in 2016. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple’s iOS share fell from 4.5% to 2.4% in the same period.
Android gained market share thanks to Apple’s (AAPL) loss of market share and “Other Operating Systems” loss of market share. Other Operating Systems fell from 5.5% in 2015 to 0.5% in 2016. As we discussed in the previous article, India (EPI) is now one of the most important markets for Apple due to the impressive iPhone double-digit growth in its smartphone market.
“We are in India for the next thousand years,” Apple CEO Tim Cook had earlier stated in May 2016. “Our horizon is very long. We are focused on best, not most. So it doesn’t bother me that we don’t have top market share.”
LTE penetration is one of the major drivers for India’s smartphone growth
The adoption of 4G LTE (long-term evolution) networks in India will be a key driver of higher future iPhone sales. India’s Internet penetration is expected to rise from 19% in 2015 to 44% in 2019. According to Apple, “the LTE rollout with India just really began this year, and so we’ll begin to see some really good networks coming on in India. That will unleash the power and capability of the iPhone in a way that an older network, a 2.5G or even some 3G networks, would not do.”