Xiaomi Tops Smartphone Market Again While Realme Enters Top 5

Xiaomi is now the top smartphone seller in the country, a report has found. In a research report published by Counterpoint, the Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has a market share of 27 percent. Taking a lead over South Korean manufacturer Samsung which controlled a 22 per cent of the market share in Indian smartphone shipments during the fourth quarter of 2018, the research by Counterpoint stated in the report.

Xiaomi also reportedly secured the top position for CY2018 with a market share of 28 percent which South Korean rival Samsung was able to take 24 percent of the market share during the same period. Also, India’s overall smartphone shipment figure grew by 10 percent during the same period.

“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 percent 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.

“This was one of the key reasons for its growth in 2018 where not only new users shifted towards smartphones but there was a healthy upgrade within price tiers, especially from entry-level smartphones to the mid-tier segment,” Chauhan further added.

Interestingly enough, the other top smartphone players for the fourth quarter of 2018 was Vivo with 9 percent market share, Realme with 8 percent market share, and Oppo with 7 percent market share.

Anshika Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research said, ” 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.”

For the feature phone market, Jio occupied the top position with a whopping 38 percent market share for the last quarter of 2018, straight from 26 percent in the corresponding quarter in 2017. For CY18, Jio secured the top spot with a 38 percent market share going from 11 percent in 2017. Samsung, which occupied a market share of 21 percent for CY2017, settled down at 12 percent for the year 2018.

Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, highlighting the still important feature phone segment, added, “This is the first time the feature phone market grew faster than the smartphone market. India remains the largest market in terms of global feature phone volume. India and the Middle East are driving the feature phone market, capturing almost 3/4th of global feature phone sales in 2018. This highlights that while India is a fast-growing smartphone market, feature phones remain relevant for a large section of the population. Reliance Jio captured 38 percent of the feature phone segment in just over year with its compelling value proposition compared to normal 2G feature phones. Additionally, the Jio Monsoon Hungama offer to focus on upgrading 2G feature phone users, helped it to drive sales during the second half of 2018.”—Times Now