For the January-March quarter of 2024, China’s Vivo emerged as India’s top smartphone brand.
Vivo Aced The Game
The results displaced Korea’s Samsungbas it had slipped to third place, despite the premiumisation trend picking up pace.
In the meantime, Vivo cornered a 19 percent share of the market which is driven by its 5G leadership.
Xiaomi, another Chinese firm, and Samsung stood at the second and third position at 18.8 percent and 17.5 percent share, according to the market research firm Counterpoint Research.
In a report released on May 9, senior research Analyst Shilpi Jain said, “During the quarter, India’s smartphone market reached its highest ever Q1 value. The growth was driven by the strengthening trend of premiumisation, with consumers upgrading to higher-value smartphones across price tiers.”
Further, the report mentioned that the key original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are diversifying channel strategy, having a focus on both online and offline channels.
People Are Buying Pricier Smartphones
Samsung continued to maintain its leadership in terms of volume share, hence leading the market in terms of value with a one-fourth share as its phones are pricier than those of Vivo and Xiaomi.
Samsung’s average selling price (ASP) at $425 (around Rs 34,487) was its highest ever, again driven by its leading position in the above Rs 20,000 segment.
Here it indicates a higher ASP which simply means that people are buying pricier phones, also known as premiumisation.
For this time period, iPhone maker Apple also had a record quarter in India in terms of value.
Again leading the premium segment in value and volume terms, driven by the latest iPhone 15 series, especially in offline channels.
They had witnessed a reduction with a 19 percent value market share, down from 22 percent in the same period of 2023.
Contrary to this, Xiaomi’s shipments grew 28 percent year-on-year.
This segment is driven by a leaner and streamlined portfolio and a proactive offline channel strategy.
The brand has witnessed its value market share grow 4 percentage points to 18 percent in the first quarter, as per the report.
In the case of Chinese phone maker, Oppo, it came in fourth with a 10.1 percent volume share, down from 12 percent in 2023.
Realme on the other hand cornered 9.9 percent, an 18 percent growth from last year.
But best growth is witnessed by Nothing as it grew the fastest at 144 percent due to its new mid-segment model Nothing (2a).
When it comes to Motorola, its shipments grew 58 percent, while Transsion grew 20 percent from the year-ago quarter.
