The IDC (International Data Corporation) said on Monday that out of 30 million units of smartphone shipment in India, Xiaomi maintained it’s lead with 30.3% market share, Samsung bags second spot.
The IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker said “the India smartphone market maintained a healthy year on year (YoY) growth of 11 percent. However, the market remained almost flat compared to the previous fourth quarter of 2017”.
Xiaomi’s share increased by 21% from Q1 2017 to Q1 2018. Came to 53% from 32%.
Senior Market Analyst, IDC India, Jagpal Singh said “Xiaomi is in a unique position with a diversified channel approach and strong demand in each of the channels. Huawei’s Honor 9 Lite also made into the top 5 online models in its debut quarter 2018 Q1”.
“The government push for high-end electronics local manufacturing and accompanying duty hike puts most of the mobile phone vendors under further margin pressure. However, a vendor looking to establish itself for the long term will have to show commitment by setting up the SMT units here,” he added.
The expansion in the offline market and the popularity of Mi 5A and Note 5 resulted in the back to back the lead for Xiaomi.
Senior Market Analyst, IDC India, Upasna Joshi while commenting on local manufacturing of smartphones said “The recent import duty hike on PCBs, camera modules and connectors by the Indian government, definitely puts cost pressure on the smartphone companies, till such time that they set up lines for CKD (Complete Knock Down) type of manufacturing to reduce this impact, This will increase the challenges for smaller companies even more,”
IDC said “Samsung’s two-pronged approach with the focus on low-to-mid range J series and the latest flagships Galaxy S9 series along with Galaxy S8 series and Note 8 in the premium segment drove shipments for the vendor.”
Samsung remained at the second spot with flat annual growth in Q1.
The camera-centric phone makers Oppo and Vivo clinched third and fourth place respectively, Vivo saw a downward motion as it slipped from its previous position due to the 29.4% YoY decline in Q1.
However, The Y series of Vivo continued to generate close to 70 percent demand. The brand grew by 2.1 percent as compared to the previous quarter.
There is a 50% quarter on quarter growth for 4G feature phone market with Reliance Jio phone sitting on the driving seat and leading the market share by 38.4%.
The affordable and value for money pack at Rs 49 in the initial week of the quarter acted as a catalyst for their growth.