Samsung leads Indian smartphone market; Xiaomi slips to No. 2

In the third quarter, Samsung regained the number one spot in the Indian smartphone market after two years with 32% YoY growth and was the fastest to recover from the COVID-19 disruptions. The South Korean tech giant reclaimed the top spot on the back of multiple strategies and an aggressive push in online channels.

Smartphone shipments in India registered 9 percent YoY growth to reach over 53 million units in Q3 2020, the highest-ever shipment in a quarter for the Indian smartphone market, according to Counterpoint Research.

"The Indian smartphone market has shown a consistent growth for the last few months. Almost all the brands recorded growth compared to the last year. In terms of price bands, the mid-tier (Rs 10,000 - Rs 20,000) segment registered the highest growth and reached its highest ever share in a quarter," said Senior Research Analyst Prachir Singh.

In the third quarter, Samsung regained the number one spot in the Indian smartphone market after two years with 32% YoY growth and was the fastest to recover from the COVID-19 disruptions. The South Korean tech giant reclaimed the top spot on the back of multiple strategies and an aggressive push in online channels.

Xiaomi, the Chinese company which dominated the market for two consecutive years slipped to the second spot with a 4 percent YoY decline. Counterpoint analysts believe that the strong demand for the Redmi 9 and Note 9 series, ramped-up manufacturing, aggressive product strategy and growing offline presence will help the Chinese phone maker come back strongly in the next quarter.

With 4 percent YoY growth, Vivo retained the third spot on strong demand for its Y-series models in the offline channel. Realme also witnessed 4 percent YoY growth as the company focused on the budget segment with multiple C-series launches. Oppo grabbed the fifth spot with 30% YoY and its shipments grew 30% YoY in Q3 2020 on strong demand for its budget segment devices.

While OnePlus remained the top brand in the affordable premium segment (Rs 30,000-Rs 45,000), Apple led the premium segment (>Rs 30,000) on strong demand for the iPhone SE 2020 and the iPhone 11.

Talking about the feature phone market, it witnessed a 5% YoY growth in Q3 2020 with Itel, Samsung and Lava being the market leaders.