Chinese smartphone brands see bumper sales in India during festive period

Despite the anti-China sentiment prevailing in the country over the past few months, Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi, Realme and Vivo have witnessed bumper sales in India during the festive period this year. Xiaomi India announced that it has sold over 13 million devices during the festive period.

The company sold over 9 million smartphones led by models such as Mi 10T Pro, Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, Redmi Note 9 Pro, Redmi 9 Prime Redmi 9, Redmi 9A amongst others. In addition to this, Mi India witnessed a significant demand for ecosystem products during festive sales and sold over 4 million devices driven by categories like TVs, streaming devices, trimmers, smart bands, audio products, power banks etc. Newly launched products like Mi Watch Revolve, Mi Smart Speaker were amongst the top favourites for consumers. Additionally, Mi Box 4k and Mi TV Stick continued to be the top selling streaming devices across Amazon and Flipkart.

Raghu Reddy, Chief Business Officer, at Mi India, said, “We are thrilled to share that Mi India registered its highest ever sales during this festive season with 13 million devices across smartphones and other product categories. We introduced a wide selection of products and coupled it up with great offers and initiatives like the Mi Smart Upgrade to meet our consumers requirements. The milestone of selling 13 million devices is not only reassuring for us as a brand but the industry at large. We are looking forward to a higher demand in Q4 and gearing ourselves to end the year on a high note by fulfilling the same.”

Realme, on the other hand, announced that it has sold 8.3 million units of overall devices, of which 6.3 million were smartphone during festive days with 20% growth compared to the festive season last year. Realme also claimed that it has become the fastest brand in the world reaching five crore sales of which three crore came from India. It is also the world's fastest growing smartphone brand for five consecutive quarters according to the Counterpoint Q3, 2020 Global Smartphone Shipment report.

"We are overwhelmed to see the adoption of Realme products at such a fast pace. Realme offers the most blockbuster products which are high on features, style and performance and is available across price segments," said Madhav Sheth, Realme Vice-President and CEO, Realme India, Europe.

Vivo managed to register a 25% increase in festival sales over the last year during this Dussehra. “The Diwali week is critical for festive sales. But so far, we are seeing a 25% increase in festival sales over last year as far as the Dussehra period is concerned. Therefore, it looks like this festival season should be okay,” Nipun Marya, Director Brand strategy, Vivo India said. 

A record 54.3 million units were shipped during Q3 FY20 with 17% YoY growth, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). “The reopening of the country with fewer restrictions was further fuelled by pent-up demand in July and August and channel stocking in September to meet the upcoming Diwali quarter demand,” the IDC report says.