Chinese smartphone manufacturers target India, Xiaomi in the lead, Samsung down
Total smartphone device sales in the Indian market grow to 41.1 million in 2018, showing growth of 59% year-on-year
Samsung is no longer the leader in the Indian smartphone market after Xiaomi took the lead in 2018 with its strong consumer promo campaign. The Chinese giant now holds 29% of the market, IDC reported.
Samsung, which had a strong foothold in India in 2017, fell to just 22% market share in 2018. Xiaomi, on the contrary, grew to 41.1 million shipments in 2018, showing growth of 59% year-to year.
All in all, the market of smartphones in India is up 14.5% in 2018, which is mostly due to the numerous consecutive online promo campaigns during Q4. The trend in India actually went against the international trend, with the global markets showing a decrease of 4%.
Online-exclusive shipment portfolios of companies like Honor, Asus, Realme, Xiaomu, OnePlus, and some others, had contributed to this growth, reports IDC.
Chinese brands dominate the market in India, with 4 out of 5 top smartphone brands being Chinese (Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Transsion). Combined, this fabulous four has a hold over a half of the Indian market.
The reasons for Xiaomi’s tangible success in India, with its 28.6% growth in Q4 year-on-year are its affordable Redmi products, efficient online promos and even offline expansion in the rural parts of the country. However, in the same time period, the company had lost 34% in its sales in China.
Xiaomi made a decision to reorganize, and announced in in December, targeting a greater focus on the domestic market and putting its co-founder Wang Chuan the president of the new China region.
The very affordable $100-200 price segment covers over 50% of the Indian market and, however, the premium segment saw the greatest growth with a 43.9% increase n 2018.
The $500-700 segments dominated by OnePlus, which introduced the OnePlus 6T and has the OnePlus 6 model, which is still popular. The super-premium segment ($700+) is led by Samsung, which won over Apple on the back of its Galaxy S9.
Another report showed OnePlus, headquartered in Shenzhen, to be the leader in the premium segment in India, with 36% of that market in Q4, with Apple at 30% and Samsung at 26%.
This victory was determined by the latest model, the OnePlus 6T, for which there was great demand prior to New Year.
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