Samsung or Xiaomi? Contradictory Reports Add to Confusion over Who Leads India Smartphone Market

Aug. 14, 2018

However, according to market research firm International Data Corporation’s (IDC) latest Quarterly Smartphone Tracker,Xiaomi is still the market leader with a share of 29.7 percent leaving behind Samsung with a share of 23.9 percent.Image: IDC

Xiaomi India’s Managing Director, Manu Kumar Jain, was quoted saying:

“Our mission to deliver amazing products at honest pricing has changed people’s lives and started a new chapter in the mobile Internet era in India and I believe we will become an even bigger part of people’s lives”.

IDC’s latest report, however, contradicts previous reports from Canalys and Counterpoint Research, which claimedSamsung had reclaimed the top spot in the second quarter with 29 percent market share, against Xiaomi’s 28 percent. The reports also highlighted that Samsung managed to ship 9.9 million smartphones in India during the time period, marking a 50 percent annual growth rate.Image: IDC

The IDC tracker also states that Chinese manufacturer Huawei, which is currently the second largest smartphone manufacturer globally, also recordedstrong shipments of its Honor branded phones, climbing up to the second spot in the online segment, with an all-time high market share of 8 percent. Upasna Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices at IDC India was quoted saying,” The market, however, is seeing rapid consolidation at the top end, as the top 5 vendors made up 79 percent of the smartphone market in 2Q18, marginalizing smaller brands”.

With inputs from IANS