Samsung Challenges Xiaomi’s Domination in Indian Smartphone Market

Smartphone shipments in India saw a 3 percent annual increase to 35.6 million units in the second quarter of 2019, according to a recent research report from Strategy Analytics. Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi remains the leader, with Samsung closing in and regaining foothold in the region. Other Chinese brands like Vivo and OPPO were outpaced by the two bigger companies and lost some market share to Realme.

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“India smartphone shipments grew 3 percent annually from 34.5 million in Q2 2018 to 35.6 million in Q2 2019. Growth was driven by generous discount schemes promoted by online retailers such as Flipkart. India today remains one of only a handful of growth markets among the global smartphone industry,” announced Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics.

Xiaomi held 29% of the Indian smartphone market during Q2 of 2019 having shipped 10.2 million handsets ad retaining its dominance. However, Samsung’s latest marketing efforts have been paying off, allowing the Korean company to reduce the lag in sales and increasing its market share from 23 percent in Q2 2018 to 26 percent in Q2 2019.

Sadly, local smartphone manufacturers could not withstand the competition. “While Chinese vendors, like Realme, are surging, we note the pool of local Indian smartphone brands has been nearly wiped out and their collective marketshare in the country today stands at less than 3 percent. Indian smartphone makers, such as Micromax and Lava, have completely failed to win in India and the outlook for them in 2020 is bleak,” said Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics.