Micromax world's 10th largest mobile phone brand in Q1: Gartner

Gartner's data showed the total sales (features and smartphones) stood at 460.3 million units during the first quarter of 2015, a 2.5 percent increase from the year-ago period.
   
Korean firm Samsung led by tally with 21.3 percent share, followed by Apple (13.1 percent), Microsoft (7.2 percent), LG (4.3 percent) and Lenovo (4.2 percent).
  
Others in the top 10 include Huawei (4 percent), Xiaomi (3.2 percent), TCL Communication (3.1 percent), ZTE (2.7 percent) and Micromax (1.8 percent).
  
"In light of their strong smartphone sales in the emerging markets, the Indian and Chinese phone manufacturers increased their footprint during the first quarter of 2015. Six of them were in the top 10 in the first quarter of 2015," Gartner Research Director Anshul Gupta said.
  
Global smartphones sales to end-users witnessed 19.3 percent increase to 336 million units during the first quarter of 2015, led by strong growth in emerging markets (excluding China).
  
The fastest growing regions were emerging Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa, Gartner said.

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China's Phicomm makes India debut with Passion 660 dual-sim smartphone

The device will go on sale exclusively on Amazon. Passion 660 sports a 5-inch HD display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection.

The smartphone runs Android KitKat 4.4 and is powered by 64-bit 1.5GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939) processor coupled with 2GB RAM. The phone comes with 16GB of internal storage which can be expanded upto 64 GB via microSD cards.

Passion 660 packs 13MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5MP front shooter for selfie lovers.  The smartphone gets its power from a 2300mAh battery. On connectivity front, Passion 660 supports 4G, 3G, GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v 4.0 and a micro-USB slot.

The smartphone will be made available in Black and White colour variants. The device come with pre-loaded accelerometer, e-compass, barometer, light, proximity, step-counter, and gesture sensors.

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Micromax Canvas Xpress A99 to be available in India from 8th December

The Micromax Canvas Express has a 4.5-inch FWVGA touchscreen at front which is nailed by a 0.3MP webcam. The last mentioned is complemented by a 5MP rear camera with flash. The phone chugs along on a 1.3GHz processor from MediaTek that incidentally brings the HotKnot feature to it.

The handset with 1GB of RAM and a 1950mAh battery runs on  Android KitKat. It has 8GB of internal memory as well as a microSD card slot accepting up to 32GB of storage expansion.

Micromax has even partnered with Aircel to offer subscribers  500MB of free data per month during the first six months of use.

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Smartphone expansion cooling, prices dropping: survey

A forecast by the research firm IDC indicates smartphone sales of 1.5 billion units in 2015, a rise of 12.2 per cent from the current year's estimate. That would mean growth falling by more than half from the 26 per cent pace of 2014.

The sluggish growth is likely to continue through 2018, IDC said, with the average increase over the period just 9.8 percent.

Significantly, smartphone prices are likely to drop from an average selling price of USD 297 in 2014 to USD 241 by 2018.

Emerging markets like India will see much lower smartphone prices -- USD 135 in 2014 and USD 102 by 2018.

Smartphone revenues "will be hard hit by the increasingly cutthroat nature of pricing," growing just 4.2 percent over the same forecast period, according to IDC.

"The impact of upstart Chinese players in the global market will be reflected in a race to the bottom when it comes to price," IDC analyst Melissa Chau said.

"While premium phones aren't going anywhere, we are seeing increasingly better specs in more affordable smartphones.

Consumers no longer have to go with a top-of-the-line handset to guarantee decent hardware quality or experience. The biggest question now is how much lower can prices go?"

IDC said Google-powered Android devices will continue to dominate the market with 80 per cent of global smartphones and 61 per cent of revenues. Apple's iPhones will represent 13 percent of units sold and 34 per cent of revenues, the report said.

"As shipment volume slows, we expect greater attention to shift toward value trends," said IDC's Ramon Llamas.

"Apple's approach with premium pricing ensures a growing portion of overall revenues despite its declining market share."

Because of Android's dominant position, IDC said new operating systems like Tizen and Firefox will have difficulty gaining a foothold and "must bring a radically different appeal to gain any significant traction," IDC said.

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OnePlus One to be sold exclusively on Amazon from December 2 in India

The makers of the much anticipated smartphone had recently announced to release OnePlus One smartphone in the Indian market.

The company has tied up with online retailer Amazon, and the handset will be available via an invite-only model system. OnePlus One smartphone will not go on sale via retail store but will be available exclusively on Amazon.

The makers have come up with specific invite system for the sale of OnePlus One smartphone to minimize sales risks in new market like India.

The OnePlus comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1920 ×1080 pixels slapped with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on it.

The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 801 with 2.5GHz Quad-core CPUs. OnePlus One runs on CyanogenMod 11S OS based on Android 4.4 (KitKat) platform and is coupled with 3GB of RAM.

The smartphone features a 13 megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel front snapper. The connectivity feature of the phone includes 4G LTE / 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4/5 GHz), WiFi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS and NFC.

Specifications:

- OS: CyanogenMod 11S (Android KitKat 4.4)

- 2.5GHz quad core Snapdragon 801 processor

- 3GB RAM

- 5.5-inch 1080p panel display

- 64GB storage

- 13MP rear, 5MP front camera

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Microsoft to launch Lumia 535 smartphone in India today

Featuring the Microsoft logo, the Lumia 535 has a 5-inch display. The phone is powered with 1.2GHz quadcore processor and coupled with 1GB RAM.

Lumia 535, which comes with 8 GB internal storage and 15 GB of free OneDrive storage, supports an expansion upto 128 GB through microSD cards.

  

The device, which is backed with a 1,905 mAh battery,  will come loaded with Windows Phone 8.1 operating system and the Lumia Denim update.

Lumia 535 also features a 5 MP front camera and is equipped with signature Lumia apps such as Creative Studio and Glam Me, which help people take quality voice-guided selfies with the 5MP rear camera.

"The Lumia 535 3G Single SIM and Lumia 535 3G Dual SIM will be available in selected markets in November. Pricing for Lumia 535 and Lumia 535 Dual SIM will vary by market and operator, but is estimated to be around EUR 110 before taxes and subsidies," Microsoft had posted on its blog.

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