Well, according to Canalys, India’s smartphone market recovered quickly in Q3 2017 after a not-so-impressive performance in Q2 2017. Smartphone shipments grew 23% year on year in Q3 2017 to reach just over 40 million units. This means that India has now overtaken the United States to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market after China.
In India alone, the top five smartphone vendors make up 75% of the market. These vendors are Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Lenovo with Samsung shipping 9.4 million units which reflect a growth of 30% in Q3 2017 compared to Q3 2016 and Xiaomi shipping 9.2 million units, indicating a growth of 290% compared to the same period last year. These two companies accounted for almost half of the total market in India.
Commenting on this growth, Canalys Analyst Rushabh Doshi said, “Xiaomi’s growth is a clear example of how a successful online brand can effectively enter the offline market while maintaining low overheads, but Xiaomi focuses on the low end. It struggles in the mid-range [ price range of US$230 and US$310]), where Samsung, Oppo and Vivo are particularly strong. Nevertheless, we predict Xiaomi’s continued go-to-market innovations will allow it to overtake Samsung within a couple of quarters.”
In case you are wondering where Apple stands in India, the company sold 900,000 units in Q3 2017 which is over 50% growth compared to Q3 2016. This growth on Apple’s side can be attributed to the company’s local production plant that was set up earlier this year. Canalys says that this is impressive growth, considering India’s market is skewed towards budget smartphones.
