According to information released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the year 2018 ended with two smartphone brands owning 50% of the market share in India. The first was the Chinese brand, Xiaomi and the second is Korean brand Samsung. 2018 was an instrumental year for Xiaomi as it surpassed Samsung in terms of market share. The former is now a market leader with a 28.9% market share, and over 142.3 million smartphones shipped in India. Samsung, on the other hand, has a 22% market share. These numbers indicate that Xiaomi has seen significant growth in just one year. This is because it had a market share of 20.9% in 2017, while Samsung ruled the market with a 24.7% share. By continuously launching products that add value to a customer’s life, the Chinese brand has managed to surpass a well-established one in a short time.
Interestingly, the other brands included in IDCs top 5 list are also ones that hail from China. Vivo holds a 14.2% market share in India while Oppo has 10.2%. Transsion was the third brand, with a 6.2% market share in India.
Apple’s iPhones are slowly losing ground in developing nations, purely because they are priced so high and offer what many consider to be sub-par features. Their products failed to make much of a mark in the Indian market in 2018, in spite of the launch of iPhone X, which has shaped the aesthetics of many other phones with its iconic notch display.
Furthermore, according to IDC, Oneplus has emerged as the market leader in terms of the premium segment. Consumers looking to spend over 30k picked this brand over most other ones in the market. Of course, in the hyper-premium space, iPhones and Samsung still rules the roost. But it is important to note that consumers are slowly veering towards high-value, premium smartphones as opposed to these hyper-premium ones.
Launches to look forward to in 2019
With the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 launched this month, consumers are looking forward to yet another great phone by the brand. Moreover, the brand is already working on the Note 7 Plus variant of this flagship.
OnePlus will launch its OnePlus 7 in May this year, and that’s bound to be a big deal among tech lovers. No other brand has garnered the kind of loyal following that Apple has the way OnePlus has done over the recent years. Most experts are expecting the brand to launch a triple rear camera and there are rumors that they are planning to do away with the notch display entirely. Instead, they will just have the front camera – so this might be similar to the teardrop notch we have seen with the Redmi Note 7. Of course, this means more screen real estate. Experts are also expecting a bigger battery. It is rumored that the phone will be priced around 39,999, which is the highest priced OnePlus model so far.
