What would not surprise many is that Samsung is the largest selling mobile phone brand in India. However what might come as a surprise would be that the Chinese phone maker Xiaomi is at second place. The significance of this is that Xiaomi has leapfrogged from just 3% a year ago this quarter, to 14% in the first quarter of 2017. And this is just in smartphone market.
A report by research firm Counterpoint indicates that a whopping 27 million smartphones were shipped across the country in the period Jan-Mar 2017. Of this, a little over a quarter, at 26% were Samsung phones. Vivo smartphones were a close third behind Xiaomi at 12%.
The report also indicates that Xiaomi benefitted greatly from its model Redmi Note 4. The company has managed to sell over 10 lakh units of this smartphone alone, according to the figures appearing on this report. The company had priced this phone in India between Rs 9, 999 and Rs 12, 999 for the different versions.
It would, however, be interesting to watch similar figures for the second quarter as well, since Lenovo, which stands fifth at 8% after Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, could post must better figures following the launch of its smartphones, Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus, building on the popularity of its ‘G’ series phones among the Indian smartphone users.
Analysts also point out that the Moto range of phones are more easily available than Xiaomi phones and this could be a factor that could help Lenovo stack up its sales figures. For the record though, Xiaomi is also taking steps to improve the availability of its phones by setting up a second manufacturing facility in the country.
Vivo smartphones are also making their own moves and as the report shows, this brand is just a percentage point behind Xiaomi and analysts feel their marketing strategies are yielding positive results and they can also give Xiaomi a good fight in the coming quarters.
There are also other factors, like phones depending purely in online channels for selling their products plus the effect of the implementation of the GST regime will also have impact on the smartphone market in India.
Image: Maurizio Pesce