According to the report from Counterpoint Research, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has beat its rival Samsung to be the leading smartphone brand with most shipments in the Indian market in the third quarter of this year.
The smartphone shipments in India in Q3 witnessed a 24 percent quarter-on-quarter growth and 5 percent year-on-year growth. The numbers indicate that the growth in the Indian market has even surpassed those of US in the same quarter.
The record shipments came at a time when the rupee hit record low against the US dollar, impacting product planning and supply chains. Also, the number of users in India exceeded 400 million, making it the second largest smartphone market in the world after China.
The report suggests that while the segment started moderately but grew because of the festive season sales. It further adds that OnePlus managed to retain its top position in the premium segment — phones costing more than Rs. 30,000 (approximately $410) — during Q3 2018.
As per the data from Counterpoint Research, Xiaomi’s overall market share during Q3 2018 comes at 27 percent while Samsung managed to grab 23 percent on market share. In the previous quarter, Samsung had 29 percent market share while Xiaomi had 28 percent market share.
The third position in terms of market share in Q3 2018 goes to Vivo with around 10 percent share. Micromax and Oppo stands at fourth and fifth position with 9 percent and 8 percent market share respectively. Oddly, Huawei is nowhere in the top 5 smartphone brands in terms of market share in India for the third quarter.
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The phones costing between $150-250 contributed to almost a third of the smartphone volume during the quarter, thanks to the back-to-back launches of aggressively priced mid-range devices. The report indicates that the fourth quarter will see a more intense fight in the premium segment given that this segment is growing faster than the overall market because of aggressive pricing.
