According to a new report from Counterpoint Research, the Indian smartphone market recorded its highest ever shipments of 169 million units in 2021, growing an impressive 11% YoY. However, the market did witness a decline of 8% YoY during Q4 2021, and the top 5 manufacturers were Xiaomi, Samsung, vivo, realme, and OPPO.
Xiaomi maintained its lead in the market, both for Q4, 2021, and the entire calendar year. In 2021 the company had a market share of 21% after recording a growth of 2% YoY. The company was especially successful in the premium smartphone segment (above 30k), where they witnessed a growth of 258%.
Samsung came in 2nd place with an 8% decline in YoY shipments overall, while realme recorded high growth in shipments at 20% YoY. realme even managed to capture 2nd place during Q4 2021. Among 5G smartphones, vivo led the market with 19% share, and Apple was the fastest growing brand overall, with 108% YoY growth during 2021.
Regarding OnePlus, the company managed to have their highest ever shipments in 2021, owing to the success of the Nord series.
The mobile handset market overall also grew by 7% YoY, and Samsung maintained their lead with 17% market share. Among feature phones, the top 4 manufacturers were Itel, Lava, Samsung and Jio.
Commenting on the market dynamics, Senior Research Analyst Prachir Singh said:
The Indian smartphone market witnessed high consumer demand in 2021, making it the best-performing year. This feat came in a year that witnessed supply constraints due to a multitude of reasons – a second and more virulent COVID-19 wave, global component shortages and price hikes due to these shortages. The high replacement demand fueled by increasing smartphone affordability in the mid and high-price tiers due to promotions and discounts, as well as better financing options, led to an 11% YoY growth in 2021. The demand outstripped the supply in the last two quarters of 2021. During Q4 2021, the smartphone market declined 8% YoY. We expect the supply situation to get better going forward and reach normalcy by the end of Q1 2022.