Smartphone shipments fall 10% in Q2

India’s smartphone market posted its sharpest April-June shipment decline in six years, with volumes falling 10% year-on-year as soaring global memory chip prices forced handset makers to raise prices sharply, hurting affordability in the country’s largest smartphone segment despite aggressive financing offers.

The contraction extends a slowdown that began earlier this year, after shipments declined 3% in the January-March quarter. Unlike previous downturns that were driven by inventory corrections or delayed upgrades, the current weakness is being led by a sharp increase in component costs, particularly DRAM and NAND memory, which manufacturers have increasingly passed on to consumers.