Xiaomi vs Samsung vs Apple vs Vivo vs Realme vs Oppo smartphone shipments in India 430 mn users

As India's overall smartphone shipments grew by 10 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has emerged the undisputed king. According to Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi now has a market share of 27 per cent in India, taking a huge lead on Samsung, which is on the second spot with 22 per cent share. Xiaomi also dominated CY2018 with a market share of 28 per cent while Samsung grabbed 24 per cent share in the same period. The other major smartphone players in the fourth quarter of 2018 were Vivo, with nine per cent market share, new player Realme with a close eight per cent share and OPPO with seven per cent share.

"India is the second largest smartphone market in the world after China. It has just surpassed 430 million smartphone users. However, this accounts for just 45 per cent of the potential total addressable market for smartphones; India is underpenetrated relative to many other markets," Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said in a statement. 

He added that this was one of the main reasons behind the growth in 2018 as the users not just shifted towards smartphones, but there was a healthy upgrade within price tiers, especially from entry-level smartphones to the mid-tier segment.

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"We saw key players gaining share while smaller brands exited the market as competition intensified. However, this doesn't mean there is no room for new players. Realme, which started operations in Q2 2018, entered the top five brands in 4Q 2018, reaching more than four million users faster than any other brand," said Anshika Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Jain believes that going forward, brands would look to consolidate their positions by driving multi-channel and aggressive product strategies in a bid to target users beyond Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

Overall, the India mobile phone shipments crossed 330 million units for the first time, with smartphones capturing almost 44 per cent of the total volume in 2018.