- As a result of the pandemic, Indian smartphone shipments are projected to fall by 10 percent overall in 2020.
- The market share of Xiaomi smartphones has hit its highest level since Q1 2018.
- Realme was the fastest-growing brand (+ 119 percent) in the quarter followed by OPPO (+ 83 percent), Apple (+ 79 percent), Transsion (+ 78 percent) and Vivo (+ 40 percent).
Indian smartphone shipments grew a modest 4% YoY to reach a little over 31 Million units in Q1 2020, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service. January and February shipments grew annually due to new launches and aggressive promotions. However, a steep annual decline in March (-19%) due to the COVID-19 outbreak restricted overall quarter growth to just 4%. The nationwide lockdown was enforced by the Indian government from the last week of March and will remain in place until May 3rd. Any signs of recovery will likely only start from the third quarter onwards. As a result, we are estimating that overall smartphone shipments will decline by 10% for the full calendar year.
Market Summary:
- Xiaomi leads India’s smartphone industry to hit its highest market share since Q1 2018 with a 6 percent youth rise in Q1 2020. This was powered by the powerful success of their Redmi Note 8 series. Offline growth, customer focus, and competitive pricing strategies have led to Xiaomi expanding its user base. Xiaomi was also the leading brand in Samsung’s overall smartphone market (when mobile phones are included).
- Powered by high-performance Y series models, Vivo grew 40 percent in Q1 2020. Vivo has left the quarter with a low inventory that allows the brand to have a strong business planning command and new launches. But the launch of its flagship series V was delayed because of Corona
- Samsung shipments were powered by their upgraded series A and M (A51, A20s, A30s, and M30s). Due to launches across several price ranges, Samsung managed to hold third place in Q1 2020, especially in the affordable premium segment (S10 Lite, Note 10 Lite). It declined sharply YoY, however, due to a decline of 84 percent in shipments in the 10 K (~$130) sub-INR segment captured by Realme, Xiaomi, and Vivo.
- In Q1 2020, Realme grew 119 percent YoY led by the newly released 5i and C3. It was the first company to introduce a 5G-enabled phone (Realme X50 Pro 5 G) on the Indian market. Expansion offline, strong value propositions, and aggressive branding helped Realme achieve this development.
- OPPO shipments grew by 83 percent in Q1 2020 due to demand for their budget segment smartphones, A5 2020, and A5s, as well as good results in the offline segment for the recently launched A31 and A9 2020.
- Samsung was the number one premium smartphone brand (> INR 30000,~$400) in its flagship launch quarter which surpassed OnePlus.That presence of OnePlus in the ultra-premium segment (> INR 45000, $600), with its latest 8 Pro series, would help it expand within the same segment.
- Apple grew a healthy 78 percent YoY led by powerful iPhone 11 shipments and numerous discounts on platforms such as Flipkart and Amazon. It was the leading brand in the Ultra Premium category (> INR 45000,~$600) with a market share of 55 percent.
- Poco launched as an Independent company and got off to a strong start by winning a market share of 2 percent during the first full month of March 2020 operations. It was among the top five brands in the price segment of INR 15-20 K (~$200-$260), too.
You can find the whole report here.
