Xiaomi remains market leader in smartphone market in first quarter

Chinese mobile phones maker Xiaomi remained the smartphone market leader in first quarter this year with a 29 per cent share, though its shipments declined by two per cent year-on-year (YoY), a report said on Friday.

Second largest, Samsung’s market share also declined further to 23 per cent YoY in the first quarter as against 26 per cent in corresponding period last year. On the other hand, Vivo’s (at third place) market share doubled to 12 per cent during the first three months this year, Counterpoint Research said in its Market Monitor report.

Overall, India's overall smartphone shipments grew four per cent YoY to 31 million units, it said adding that the market started off to a slow start post record festive season, but demand started picking up later in the quarter.

“The overall growth was slower than expected as some of the major brands were sitting on inventory after a stock build up during the festive period last quarter. This quarter we have seen all major brands expanding their footprint in offline channels to gain market share,” Anshika Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research said.

The market share of Chinese brands in the Indian smartphone market also reached a record 66 per cent during the first quarter. Volumes for the Chinese brands grew 20 per cent YoY mainly due to the growth of Vivo, Realme, and Oppo, it said.

While Vivo’s volume grew 119 per cent YoY, Oppo grew 28 per cent YoY. Vivo’s expanding portfolio in the mid-tier (₹7,000 - ₹14,000) drove its growth along with aggressive Indian Premier League campaign around flagship V series.

Oppo, on the other hand, focused on expanding its portfolio in the less crowded ₹15,000 - ₹25,000 segment, research firm said in its report.

“India’s smartphone market continues to attract a lot of attention from global and Chinese players. Data consumption is on the rise and users are upgrading their phones faster as compared to other regions. This has led to users spending more on their purchase which is driving up the overall average selling price in the market,” Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, at the firm said.

As a result of this, the premium specifications are now diffusing faster into the mid-tier price brands. “We estimate this trend to continue leading to a competitive mid-tier segment in coming quarters,” he said.

On the performance of different brands, Jain highlighted, “Xiaomi remains the market leader driven by new product launches. However, it faced strong market competition as compared to a year ago. Samsung did a major refresh in its product portfolio launching a new online-only M series.”

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