Smartphone shipments reached 32.3 million units in the India market in the third quarter of 2016, increasing 17.5% over the previous quarter, according to data compiled by IDC.

Online sales of smartphones increased 35% sequentially in the third quarter to account for 31.6% of total shipments in the quarter, IDC said.

China-based Lenovo continued to lead online channel followed by Xiaomi. Lenovo accounted for almost one-fourth of total online sales, led by its K5 series and Motorola's G4 series models.

4G smartphone shipments grew 24.8% in the third quarter as compared to the previous quarter.

Samsung Electronics ranked as the top vendor and saw its shipments grow 8% sequentially and 9.7% on year to account for a 23% share of the India smartphone market in the third quarter, buoyed by its launch of multiple models, IDC said. .

Lenovo climbed to second place with a 9.6% share, driven by a 46.1% on-quarter shipment growth in the third quarter.

Local brand Micromax slipped to third position with a 7.5% share after its shipment declined 32% sequentially in the quarter. The vendor is facing tremendous pressure from other local vendors in the sub-US$100 segment and from China-based players in US$100-150 segment.