India, one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone market, witnessed a drop of 1 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2017, marking the second such instance in the history.
While India’s overall smartphone market witnessed a drop, Chinese companies were able to manage their dominance in the country. Xiaomi, one of the leading brands in India, reported a record sales of 12 million smartphones.
Xiaomi’s sales for the three months ending 30th September records around 30 percent growth compared to the Q3 2017. Samsung remained in the second spot and shipped 9.3 million smartphones, recording a 2 percent drop year-over-year.
The third and fourth position were grabbed by Vivo and Oppo, which managed to ship 4.5 million and 3.6 million phones respectively. While Oppo’s phones saw shipments decline by 24 percent, it’s sub-brand Realme had a strong performance with 800,000 units shipments.
Surprisingly, Micromax made a re-entry at the fifth position with 2.6 million shipments. This was due to the company’s win as a supplier for the phone to the Chhattisgarh state, where, along with Reliance Jio, it will provide smartphones for a fixed price of Rs 2,510 to 5 million women and college students.
As expected, Apple is still struggling in the Indian market and is trying hard to crack the market. It has opened production facilities in India and is also focusing on opening new stores, and is targeting local with deals and apps. The company falls under “others” category in Canalys report, which collectively saw phones shipped fall from 13 million in Q3 2017 to 8.5 million in Q3 2018.
According to the report, the overall phone sales were affected by a late Diwali holiday, rising fuel costs, and currency exchange fluctuations. The firm also cautioned that there are multiple macro-economic factors which will negatively impact the global smartphone market, including India.
