Xiaomi and Samsung, who have been trading places with each other for the top spot in the Indian smartphone market for many successive quarters now, have now taken the battle up a notch. According to the latest numbers by research firm Canalys, both companies each shipped a record 9.9 million smartphones in India during the second quarter of the year. Xiaomi and Samsung also account for 60% of the total 32.6 million phones shipped in India during the quarter.
The total shipments have also increased by 22%, up from 26.8 million in the same quarter in 2017.
The latest numbers indicate that Samsung is indeed bouncing back, after falling slightly behind Xiaomi over the previous two quarters. Samsung also recorded a 47% market share growth, compared with the same quarter in 2017.
Chinese smartphone brands do dominate the top 4 spots in the Indian smartphone market, Vivo in third place (3.6 million phones shipped) and Oppo is in fourth place (3.1 million phones shipped). To diversify the product line-up, Oppo now also has the Realme sub-brand, the impact of which should perhaps be more evident in the next quarter.
As it turns out, Samsung’s best-selling phone is the Samsung J2 Pro (around Rs7,500), which shipped 2.3 million units, while Xiaomi’s best-seller was the Redmi 5A (Rs5,999 onwards) which clocked 3.3 million shipments.
Even though Apple’s shipments fell by 50% in Q2 2018, that can be attributed to its new strategy that focuses on the brand, something that could ensure better margins on every iPhone it sells—a strategy that could pay off in the longer run. Last month, Apple started the production of the iPhone 6S in India, and the lower price tag than before should help attract price-sensitive consumers.
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