According to a report from Counterpoint Research, the smartphone shipments in India reached 37 million units during Q2 2019 which is a shipment-record in the second quarter and top 5 smartphone brands contribution reached the highest ever level in Q2 2019.
The report says that the growth was driven by price cuts on older devices, new smartphone launches, and channel expansion across brands. Online-centric brands focussing on the offline market and offline-centric brands launching online-exclusive series are working well for all the leading at-scale players, according to the report.
The smartphone Shipment Market Share shows that Xiaomi has 28% shipment market share and is followed by Samsung with 25%, Vivo with 11%, Realme with 9%, OPPO with 8% and other brands with 19% shipment market share.
| India Smartphone Shipments Market Share (%) | 2018Q2 | 2018Q3 | 2018Q4 | 2019Q1 | 2019Q2 |
| Xiaomi | 28% | 27% | 27% | 29% | 28% |
| Samsung | 28% | 23% | 20% | 23% | 25% |
| vivo | 12% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% |
| Realme | 1% | 3% | 8% | 7% | 9% |
| OPPO | 9% | 8% | 7% | 7% | 8% |
| Others | 22% | 29% | 28% | 22% | 19% |
From Q2 2018 to Q2 2019, Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivo and OPPO haven’t seen a major change in the market share, but Realme has grown 9%.
In the feature phone segment, Jio has 28% market share which is followed by Samsung with 21%, Lava with 12%, Itel with 10%, Nokia with 9% and other brands with 20% Shipment Market Share.
The report also shows that Realme, Asus, OnePlus and Nokia HMD were the fastest growing brands YoYand Xiaomi’s shipments grew 6% YoY. Samsung shipments declined by 7% YoY, however, it has shown 30% growth QoQ and OPPO and Vivo increased their offline channel incentives. In the premium segment, OnePlus shipments reached an all-time high during Q2 2019 making a place in the top ten list for the first time.
Commenting on this, Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, said,
Brands which focused on offline channels expanded to online channels with online-exclusive series. Similarly, brands which entered the market with online-exclusive series are now expanding their reach towards offline channel by forming partnerships with key offline retailers. This strategy is working well for all the leading at-scale players. Also, brands are launching multiple series to target or expand into new product tiers. This is helping them to expand their product portfolio to target multiple fast-growing segments and also diversify.
Anshika Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research said,
The top five brands’ contribution to the total shipments volume reached its highest ever level driven by new launches and hybrid channel strategy. Localization, branding, and innovation will remain to be the next key drivers for growth in a highly competitive market like India. The market will continue to become more concentrated with majority of share controlled by a few brands leading to more number of exits among the long-tail brands in the market moving forward.