According to IDC, the smartphone market in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) posted a 6% on-quarter and 24% on-year growth in the third quarter of 2014. This trend reflects a decline in growth from previous years and is a result of its largest market, China, having seen the last of the heydays of heady growth in the smartphone market. During the same period, growth in China slowed down to 1% on quarter, while other emerging markets in APEJ surged ahead with 22% growth. First-tier China vendors have extended their reach overseas and their shipment contribution from APEJ countries excluding China increased over the past few quarters.

India led on-quarter smartphone growth in the region with 23 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2014, and added around five million units to the market over the second quarter. Local vendors in India, particularly Micromax and Lava, gained most from increased shipments of the 4.5-inch to 5-inch smartphone category priced at around US$100. As a result, Micromax extended its leadership in India and claimed a 20% share in market in third-quarter 2014. Other emerging countries in the region also showed high growth rates and together shipped 23 million smartphones during the quarter. In particular, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia surged ahead in South East Asia (SEA) with almost double the shipments in the third quarter compared to a year ago.

Overall, local and China vendors have gained at the cost of global vendors. The impact was more pronounced in SEA where global vendors' share dropped from 62% in third-quarter 2013 to 43% in third-quarter 2014.

IDC expects the share of phablets (5.5- to 7-inch screen sizes) to steadily increase from 16% in 2014 to 34% in 2018.