According to a Deloitte report, India will have almost 1 billion smartphone users by 2026, with a significant increase coming from rural areas.
Around 1.2 billion mobile customers, 750 million of whom use smartphones, are registered in India as of 2021. Within the next five years, India hopes to overtake China as the world’s second-largest smartphone maker.
Details about More than 1.2 billion people use mobile phones in India, and 600 million of them use smartphones:
According to the analysis, the rural sector would be primarily responsible for this expansion, with a compound annual growth rate of 6%, while the urban sector will see growth at a CAGR of 2.5% from 2021 to 2026.
The country’s intention to fiberize every village by 2025 as part of the BharatNet initiative would also contribute to the growth of internet-enabled devices in rural markets.
According to the Deloitte estimate, only 5% of replacements in the urban market in 2026 will be for used cell phones and 95% will be for brand-new ones. This percentage is 75 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in 2021.
With a CAGR of 6%, demand for smartphones is predicted to soar, rising from 300 million in 2021 to about 400 million in 2026.
This increase in demand could be attributed to 5G connectivity, which provides remote healthcare, high-speed gaming, etc. In fact, extra smartphone shipments after the rollout of 5G are projected to total roughly 135 million by 2026.
