Indigenous smartphone makers such as Micromax and Karbonn which so far had the tag of being the cheap smartphone manufacturers are now in big league giving tough time to big global brands like Samsung, Nokia and Sony.

According to the latest IDC research, Micromax with 22 percent is inching closer to Samsung. Samsung stays at top with 26 percent in Quarter 2, 2013. Share of Samsung and Nokia in Indian smartphone market dropped significantly due to intense competition from local vendor. Apart from Micromax and Karbonn others like Lava and Celkon have also done well.

Micromax is confident that it will surpass Samsung to grab the top slot by this Diwali.Micromax Co-Founder Rahul Sharma attributed the company’s and overall smartphone growth to 5 inch-6.99 inch category which has grown 17 times year on year and the phablet share has steadily risen to 30 per cent of the smartphone market in Q2.

According to IDC, the India smartphone market almost tripled its shipments year over year (YoY) in the second quarter of 2013 Q2 (2Q13). Vendors shipped a total of 9.3 million smartphones in 2Q13 compared to 3.5 million units in the same period of 2012. 2Q13 grew by more than 50% over the units shipped in the first quarter of 2013 (1Q13). The 5.0 inch-6.99 inch screen size smartphones, or phablets, grew 17 times YoY and the phablet share has steadily risen to 30% of the smartphone market in 2Q13.

Betting on its Galaxy series of smartphones Samsung stays at No 1 in 2Q13, with the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Star bringing in huge volumes at the low end. The other mid-tier smartphones also helped Samsung cater to the wide range of smartphone consumers in the Indian market. The cash-back and zero percent interest Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) schemes have worked in favor of Samsung over the last quarter, specifically for products such as the Galaxy Note II.

Micromax is closely following Samsung and crossed the 2 million units mark in shipments. The success of Micromax has a lot to do with huge demand and sale of canvas series of smartphones. “This vendor is banking on the wave of phablet-driven smartphone adoption and is pushing the Canvas range of devices with bigger screens and compelling imaging capabilities” IDC said.

Karbonn is the No.3 vendor in India with 13 percent. Its recently launched Titanium series of smartphones have been received well by Indian buyers. These phones boast of high specifications at competitive prices, a must in the price-sensitive Indian consumer market.

"The key for growth in this market, as with most emerging markets, is a low-priced phone equipped with a large screen and dual SIM slots," says Kiranjeet Kaur, Senior Market Analyst with IDC's Client Devices group. "The dual SIM phenomena, which had accelerated the growth of local vendors in feature phone, turned to dual SIM smartphones flooding the Indian market. Topped with an attractive sub-US$200 price tag, these smartphones are highly attractive," she adds. The share of sub-US$200 smartphones in 2Q13 accounted for two-thirds of the total smartphone market.