India becomes second largest smartphone market in the world

India has become the second largest smartphone market in the world, a report from Canalys said on Friday. “India has now overtaken the United States to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market after China,” the report said.

It claimed that the smartphone shipment in India crossed the 40 million mark for the first time in Q3 2017 with 23 per cent annual growth.

India now stands at over 1.3 billion while the U.S. is around 320 million. China, however, is at 110 million shipments per quarter.

“This growth comes as a relief to the smartphone industry. Doubts about India’s market potential are clearly dispelled by this result,” said Canalys Research Analyst Ishan Dutt in a statement.

“There are close to 100 mobile device brands sold in India, with more vendors arriving every quarter. In addition, India has one of the most complex channel landscapes, but with low barriers to entry. Growth will continue. Low smartphone penetration and the explosion of LTE are the main drivers,” Dutt added.