Indians increase the pace of smartphone replacement; eye higher priced handsets in next purchase

Key highlights:

• The smartphone replacement cycles has been reducing across the country
• Replacement cycle in rural India has dropped the maximum by 27%
• Between 60-90% customers with smartphones below Rs 15,000 price bracket expect to buy a higher priced smartphone

While there are several smartphone companies that launch many different models every year in India, the smartphone replacement cycles has been reducing across the country. There is a steady reduction in the expected replacement cycle for phones across all city tiers, while premiumisation has accelerated, according to a RedSeer Consulting report.

The rural market in India has seen the biggest growth in replacement demand for smartphones, as the time for replacement has dropped by a huge 27%. While the average replacement cycle for smartphones was 23.2 months in rural areas, it has now reduced to 17 months.

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