India crosses US, becomes world's second largest smartphone market

New Delhi: India has crossed the 40 million mark in smartphone sales for the first time, overtaking the US to become the world's second-largest smartphone market, a report said on Friday.

The landmark figure was reached in the third quarter of 2017, according to a report prepared by the Singapore-based technology market analyst Canalys.

"This growth comes as a relief to the smartphone industry. Doubts about India’s market potential are clearly dispelled by this result," web portal TechCrunch quoted a Canalys analyst as saying.

However, the report cited complicated supply chains, local retail laws, import taxes, lower GDP and poorer internet as reasons for impeding sales in India.

China still maintains the number one spot with more than 110 million shipments of smartphones per quarter, it said.

Chinese and South Korean brands like the Xiaomi and Samsung continue to be the top sellers in India, the report said.

Citing the 2nd quarter data, Canalys said Samsung topped the list with 9.4 million shipments, followed by Xiaomi with 9.2 million units.

Vivo, Oppo and Lenovo, also Chinese brands, were in the top five, while Apple iPhone's comparatively high price hindered its sales in India, the report said.