India Smartphone Market Share & Analysis : Q1 2020

Q1 was the booming time for the smartphone industry overall, until the COVID-19 hits the spot. Here are some highlights mentioned below.

Highlights of Smartphone Market Share in Q1 —

Xiaomi leads the India smartphone market with a 6% YoY growth in Q1 2020 to reach its highest ever market share since Q1 2018.

Vivo grew 40% YoY in Q1 2020 driven by strong performance Y series models. Past few quarters have been really terrific for Vivo and they have been uplifting their bar in each quarter by continuously launching innovative products, optimal utilisation of its brand ambassadors and touching the Indian consumers heart by their creative & emotional advertisement. They also started a new category of phones under IQOO with Virat Kohli.

Samsung’s shipments were driven by its upgraded A and M series (A51, A20s, A30s, and M30s). Samsung managed to hold 3rd position in Q1 2020 due to launches across several price tiers, especially in the affordable premium segment (S10 Lite, Note 10 Lite).

realme grew 119% YoY in Q1 2020 driven by the newly launched 5i and C3. RealMe have also been expanding business into other categories like Smart Watch,Ear Buds, Power Banks and now Smart TV

OPPO shipments grew 83% in Q1 2020, due to demand for its budget segment devices, A5 2020 and A5s, as well as a good performance for the recently launched A31 and A9 2020 in the offline segment. They also Launched Reno3 Pro in Early March and Find X2 which is a under the Premium category.

Transsion Group brands (Itel, Infinix, and Tecno) reached its highest ever market share in Q1 2020 registering 78% YoY growth. Infinix Mobile just Dropped Hot 9 & 9 Pro which is doing well in Flipkart

OnePlus’ growing presence in the ultra-premium segment (>INR 45000, $600) will help it to expand within the same segment with its new 8 Pro series.

Apple grew a strong 78% YoY driven by strong shipments of iPhone 11 and multiple discounts on platforms like Flipkart and Amazon. In the ultra-premium segment (>INR 45000,~$600 ) it was the leading brand with a market share of 55%.

Poco debuted as an Independent brand, got off to a good start by capturing a 2% market share during its first entire month of operations in March 2020. It was also among the top five brands in the INR 15-20K (~$200-$260) price segment.

• IMPORTANT : A GST hike was announced during the quarter which we expect will have an impact on OEMs margins and new launches. A strong dollar and the GST hike will be detrimental to the mobile industry. Due to the hike, most of the OEMs have already increased smartphone prices.

• ALSO : There are some phones launched recently during the pandemic situation in Q2, and we are yet to witness the impact in the smartphone industry. The consumption of budgeted category of smartphones will be new impactful chapter, thus the premium brands like OnePlus and Apple are entering into the budgeted segment to compete against the Mid segment giant like OPPO, Vivo, Huawei (honor) & Motorola.