Consumers getting attracted to larger mobile screens: TMI Survey

In January this year, 2.9 inch was the average screen size searched by consumers as compared to 3.6 inch screens searched in August.

Indians seem to think that bigger is better, certainly when it comes to the screen size of their mobile phones. This was revealed by a survey of The Mobile Indian (TMI) in which the online preferences of over one million people who visited the website in August were analysed.

In January 2012, data from The Mobile Indian showed that the average screen size among the 25 most searched phones was 2.9 inches. In the latest monthly survey, however, that size has risen substantially to 3.6 inches among the Top 25 handsets.

Commenting on the phenomenon, a spokesperson for The Mobile Indian says, "Indian telecom service providers reduced 3G tariffs by up to 60 per cent in May 2012 to push data consumption. Now, with the availability of 4-inch screen phones at an affordable price, it looks like consumers want to experience faster data speeds on larger mobile screens."

In this month's edition of the Hotlist, Nokia is back on top with its Asha 305, followed close behind with its stable mate, Asha 311. This shows that Windows has not been able to turn the fortunes of Nokia in India so far but the affordable range of Java-based Asha series of phones has got consumers excited.

Incidentally, since December 2011, when Nokia made its Asha and Lumia series phones available, at least one handset of the Asha series has made it to each TMI survey list till date. On the other hand, Windows operating system-based Nokia Lumia series of smartphones featured in just five lists.

LG phones rarely appear in the hotlist but this time its Optimus L3 E405 performed strongly to land at No. 3. Unusually, the next two ranks went to two other brands, to HTC Desire VC and Sony Neo L, respectively. The leader in August in the Handset Hotlist, Samsung Galaxy S III, lost nine positions and became the 10th most searched phone from a list of around 2000 handsets listed on the website.

Interestingly, Android-based handsets seem to be top of mind among Indian consumers. This month's Handset Hotlist saw 12 new entrants, of which nine were Android-based handsets and three were feature phones.

Over the months, The Handset Hotlist has been dominated first by Nokia and more recently by Samsung, to the detriment of other brands in the business. However, in September 2012, handsets from eight brands have made it: nine of the top 25 handsets are from Samsung, four each from Micromax and Sony Mobiles, three from Nokia, two from LG Mobiles, and one each from Spice Mobiles, HTC and Karbonn. Remarkable too is the fact that three Indian brands have got into this prestigious list.

The spokesperson further adds, "Android based dual SIM smartphones are also gaining popularity. Ten of the 13 dual SIM phones that made it to the list this month are Android-based."