Jio Phone Beats Samsung In Feature Phone Sales; Xiaomi Is Still #1 In Smartphones!

Samsung’s dominance in mobile phone sales is slowly, but gradually fading in India.

Last month, we had reported that  Xiaomi had beaten Samsung in the smartphone segment for the last quarter.

Now, Cybermedia Research has released reports for the same quarter, which verifies Xiaomi’s #1 position in the smartphone sales.

However, there is a new angle as well: Jio Phones, which are sold under LYF brand has taken an unprecedented upswing in sales, and such is the impact that they have beaten Samsung in the feature phones segment.

This way, Samsung has now lost both smartphones and feature phones segments to Xiaomi and Jio Phones respectively.

Jio Phone Becomes Hottest Selling Feature Phone

Jio’s LYF brand phones are marketed as 4G VoLTE handsets, but basically, they are feature phones and competing against the likes of Samsung and Micromax, which were dominant players in the niche.

But not anymore.

As per the report, Jio Phones increased their sales by 5 times in the last quarter of 2017, which made them #1 brand in the category with 27% market share.

Samsung was placed at #2 position with a 14% market share.

This is for the first time in the last 6 years that Samsung has lost both smartphone and feature phone’s top slot in India.

In fact, as per the report, LYF brand’s aggressive branding led to the overall increase in feature phone market, across India.

Xiaomi Is #1 In Smartphones, Beats Samsung

Cybermedia Research’s report shares the same result which was shared by Canalys and Counterpoint earlier: Samsung has been dethroned by Xiaomi in the last quarter of 2017.

30 million smartphones were sold in the Q4 of 2017, out of which 25% market share by grabbed by Xiaomi, followed by 23% by Samsung.

Narinder Kumar, analyst, CMR- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG) said,

“In smartphones, Xiaomi became the clear market leader, on the back of its growing offline penetration and value for money products. We are expecting to witness revival in online strategy of Samsung along with enhanced focus on enterprise business,”

The report highlights the fact that sales of smartphones by brands like HTC, Asus, Intex and Gionee have fallen considerably, even as newer brands like COMIO, NUU Mobile and 10.or (Tenor) entered the market, and made a considerable dent.

Overall, 88 million mobiles were shipped in India during Q4 of 2017 and Samsung was the #1 brand in the overall shipments with 21% market share.

At #2 were iTel, and Xiaomi, both with 9% market share.

In 2017, overall, 287 million handsets were shipped in India.

Some numbers:

• Q4, 2017 witnessed 88 million smartphones being shipped, which is a historic high
• 30 million smartphones were shipped in the same period, which is 19% sequential decline
• Features phones witnessed 36% sequential growth in Q4, 2017
• Year on year, feature phones witnessed 62% growth, mainly because of Jio Phones

You can find the report here.