Samsung became the number one smartphone brand in India

Today, CounterPoint Research released a report concerning the smartphone sales in Indian market in the Q3. According to the research company, India’s smartphone shipments grew 9% YoY reaching 53 million units. As you understand, this is the highest-ever shipment in a quarter for the Indian smartphone market. Of course, the covide-19 epidemic and lockdown have their impact on this growth.

Also Read: Indian smartphone market declined by 51% in Q2 year-on-year

In this regard, Senior Research Analyst Prachir Singh said, ‘The Indian smartphone market is on a recovery path as the lockdown restrictions have been relaxed. The market has shown a consistent growth for the last few months. It saw strong demand during the Independence Day period in August as major online platforms hosted massive sales. September has always been a high sell-in month as brands prepare for the upcoming festive season and push stock in the channels. Almost all the brands recorded growth compared to the last year. In terms of price bands, the mid-tier (INR 10,000 – INR 20,000) segment registered the highest growth and reached its highest ever share in a quarter. Due to the pandemic, Indian consumers have ended up saving on leisure activities. These savings are now being funnelled into smartphone purchases. Additionally, smartphones have become an integral part of consumers’ lifestyle in this changing environment.’

The Indian mobile handset market grew 8% YoY in Q3 2020 due to stronger consumer demand in the smartphone segment and stronger sales of feature phones. The feature phone market registered a 5% YoY growth in Q3 2020 with Itel being the number one brand followed by Samsung and Lava.

The South Korean Samsung became the leading brand in the India smartphone market after two years with 32% YoY growth. However, this is not surprising. This strong performance was the result of multiple strategies, including effective supply chain and touching various price points through new launches.

Interestingly, for the first time in a long period of time, Xiaomi fell to number two position. Since Q3 2018, it has been the number 1 smartphone brand in this market. This quarter, it had a 4% YoY decline. And the aforementioned factors of Samsung worked contrary for Xiaomi.

VIVO’s growth rate was 4% YoY. Realme also grew 4% YoY in Q3 2020. Unlike many other brands above, it focuses on the budget segment with multiple C-series launches to leverage the pent-up demand. OPPO shipments grew 30% YoY. And finally, Poco crossed 1 million smartphone units for the first time.