India’s smartphone market recorded double-digit growth in the first quarter of the year, with a robust showing from the rapidly growing ultra-high-end segment, IDC reported.

Smartphone shipments increased 11 per cent year-on-year in the quarter to 30 million units, which IDC stated was the “strongest start to a year” in the market. The ultra-high-end market (devices priced $600 and above) grew 68 per cent year-on-year, which IDC said was largely due to strong demand for Samsung’s Galaxy S9 series, taking a 77 per cent share of the segment. OnePlus maintained its more than 50 per cent share of the high-end segment ($400 to $600).

IDC expects the smartphone market to continue its double-digit growth in 2018. Jaipal Singh, senior market analyst at IDC India, said the growth will be driven by the popularity of budget phones, efforts to make devices more affordable with financing plans, aggressive offline expansion by key players and a push by the online platforms.

He noted, however, the government’s push for local manufacturing of high-end electronics and an accompanying import duty hike will put most mobile phone vendors under further margin pressure.

Xiaomi maintained its lead in the market for second straight quarter, taking a 30.3 per cent market share (see chart, click to enlarge), followed by Samsung (25.1 per cent) and Oppo (7.4 per cent).