14 DAY TRIAL // India is one of the top markets for Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system, mainly courtesy of great sales of Lumia handsets there, but it seems that things are no longer looking as great for the OS.
Nokia’s devices have been long seen as highly popular in India, mainly courtesy of their affordability and appealing specs, but they’ve started to lose ground in front of rival handsets lately, and a recent report coming from Canalys confirms that.
To be more precise, the research firm has revealed that Motorola managed to grab the fourth place on the smartphone market in India during the second quarter of the year, sending Nokia down one spot.
Motorola’s ascension was fueled by strong Moto G sales and might continue for several months longer, given that the company has already launched an even cheaper Android device in India, in the form of Moto E.
South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung is currently the top smartphone maker in India, though it has started to lose some ground as well.
Micromax comes in second, with a nice increase in sales, while Karbonn ended the second quarter of the year on the third position, also losing some ground in front of rivals.
Motorola managed to climb up to the fourth position quite fast, while Nokia dropped to the fifth place, although it registered an overall increase in sales in the country.
According to said research firm, Motorola sold 955,650 smartphones in India in Q2 2014, up from 379,310 in the first quarter, while Nokia sold only 633,720 units, up from 583,160 in the previous quarter, as BGR.in reports.
Lumia 520, the cheapest Windows Phone smartphone from Nokia, which has been available in India for over a year now, is still one of the best-selling devices there, though its performance appears to be affected by newcomers.
However, chances are that Nokia’s sales in India will increase in the coming months, as Lumia 530, the successor to Lumia 520, is starting to arrive on shelves.
Moreover, we should note that this is only one of the new devices that Nokia is set to bring to shelves in India in the near future, and that these handsets will land on shelves with the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system loaded on top.
In fact, the first such smartphones, such as the Nokia Lumia 630 and Lumia 930, are already available there. Both of these smartphones were made official back in April, but they started selling around the world only towards the end of the second quarter of the year.