Xiaomi Set To Upset Samsung In India; Nokia’s Grand Comeback In Top 4!

Counterpoint Research has just released their latest numbers on the smartphones sales in India, news is pretty upbeat for Xiaomi because they are about to break Samsung’s 4.5 year record in India.

On the other hand, Nokia, the brand which we all wrote off till few months ago, has made a grand comeback in the top 4 ranking of the best selling smartphones in India.

Can Xiaomi and Nokia rewrite Indian smartphone market dynamics in the next coming months?

We explore..

Xiaomi About To Beat Samsung!

Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone brand which managed to churn out sales of $1 billion from India last year, is now all set to do the unimaginable: Beat Samsung.

Since last 4.5 years, Samsung has been the #1 smartphone brand in India, with as high as 35% market share at its peak.

However, now, Xiaomi has positioned themselves to overtake the might of Samsung.

And the gap is vanishing pretty fast!

As per latest numbers from Counterpoint Research, in the last quarter, Xiaomi was able to grab 22.3% market share in the smartphones market, whereas Samsung was able to grab 22.8% market share.

Hence, the difference right now is just 0.5%, and if we believe the researchers, then this gap shall be soon overcome.

For July-August months, Xiaomi was able to capture 20.8% market share, while Samsung was at 21.4% share. As we can see, the gap is gradually becoming lesser and lesser.

Associate director at Counterpoint Research, Tarun Pathak said,

“It will be neck and neck … quite possible in one of the months, but to be a leader for a longer period of time, Xiaomi needs significant investment in offline space with portfolio across different price bands.”

Early this year, we had reported that Chinese smartphones have captured 40% market share, and the diminishing market of Korean giant Samsung is the right indicator of the changing dynamics.

Besides Xiaomi, OnePlus is the brand which is witnessing another major boom. In the premium smartphone category, they captured 57% market share, as per IDC’s last report.

Nokia Makes A Grand Comeback!

Meanwhile, big news for Nokia fans, as they have managed to re-enter the prestigious top 4 list of smartphones in India.

In the last quarter, Nokia managed to capture 8% market share in India, which is a massive improvement compared to last year.

Nokia is now part of Foxconn Group, as last year, they bought majority stake via HMD, FIH Mobile Limited (a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industries trading as Foxconn Technology Group) and Microsoft.

As per the report, Samsung is also facing big threat from Nokia in the feature phone category, as Nokia has started rolling out newer feature phone models, and the old love of hardcore Nokia fans is coming back.

Overall, 40 million smartphones were shipped in India last quarter, which is an increase of 13% compared to last year, and 32% compared to a quarter before.

Will Xiaomi become India’s largest selling smartphone brand? Why there is no Indian company in the top 4 list? Do share your opinions by commenting right here!