New Delhi, Jun 12 (IANS): Mobile phone users in India are now giving more preference to audio over digital screen, said a study on Friday which found that music consumption has increased on both feature phones and smartphones as the country emerges from the lockdown.

Three in every four respondents listen to music, at least once in a day, said the study by CyberMedia Research (CMR) conducted in partnership with HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones.

Beyond music, smartphone consumers also tune to podcasts, while 81 per cent feature phone cohorts prefer FM and MP3.

"As we move from a homebound economy to a 'neo normal', mobile audio will remain key for consumers -- think, communication, music and content consumption or team collaboration," Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, said in a statement.

"For instance, in situations involving low bandwidth, the importance of audio becomes even more critical. All said, music is what drives our lives, and a good quality experience is what consumers hold dear."

The study is based on a survey covering 800 respondents, across top four cities of India, namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

The prolonged lockdown and the move to work-from-home has led to both smartphone and feature phone users highlighting high quality music and audio capabilities as the most important feature in their phones.

For smartphone users, audio quality now ranks higher than their smartphone's camera, battery life or even overall phone reliability, said the study.

On the other hand, battery drainage and Internet consumption are two important factors that impede high music consumption on smartphones.

These are two key factors that make them open to buying a feature phone as a companion device that can be used primarily for music and calls, the research showed.