The smartphone market has recovered faster than expected in the first half of June, with states like Maharashtra seeing sales back at pre-COVID second wave levels amid healthy customer footfall in offline retail stores.

Large markets such as Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh saw demand revive 60-80% of the pre-Covid second wave levels, said market trackers and brands. But southern India, which continued to be in the grip of high infections and movement restrictions, saw lukewarm sales, primarily through online channels.

Market tracker firms said the “unexpectedly higher” pickup in demand in June so far may continue till the end of July. Robust supplies of new models, high inventory of older models and push from brands with discounts and promotions have brought back buoyancy in the market, said retailers and experts.

 “Unlike last year, when it took almost a quarter for sales to pick up pace, consumer interest has revived quite quickly this year as soon as unlocking began,” said research director at Counterpoint Research, Tarun Pathak. “In fact, we feel the month of June may see a 20-30 per cent year-on-year growth in sales, although that comparison comes from a lower base.”

He added the pent-up demand may play out till July, beyond which the festive season will see replacement or upgradation demand, and consumer confidence should be boosted by a faster pace of vaccination by then, assuming that India does not witness a third COVID-19 wave.

Continued manufacturing operations throughout April and May, albeit at lower capacities, and labour retention in factories this time around has ensured that brands are able to provide robust supplies even when global supply chains are reeling under cost pressures, said experts.

“Both offline and online channels are flush with inventory at the moment, online deliveries have opened in majority of the pin codes, even though offline retail is struggling with some restrictions in southern states,” said associate research manager, client devices, at research firm IDC India, Upasana Joshi. “Added to this, brands from their end are flushing some older line up by giving price cuts.”

indicators fully recovered from the lows of April and March in the first fortnight of June and are moving speedily towards February levels.

Jefferies Recovery Tracker increased four percentage points week-on-week, to a seven-week-high. Citi Research said its weekly Narrow Recovery Index improved more than 20% in mid-June from its lows a month ago, led by better mobility.

“With a recovery of 9 ppt in activity levels post their recent lows; the post 2nd wave recovery is trending faster than Wave 1 bottom so far which is a positive surprise,” Jefferies said in a report.

Analysts have forecast 26-28 million smartphone shipments in April-June, down from 38 million recorded in the quarter to March.