India’s smartphone market just wrapped up its liveliest quarter in years, thanks to the festive season and a flood of offers that pushed people to upgrade. And once the dust settled, Vivo walked away with the crown yet again.
IDC’s latest report shows that Q3 2025 shipments hit 48 million units, up 4.3% year-on-year — the highest third-quarter tally in five years. Vivo held on to its number-one position for the seventh quarter in a row. Oppo, meanwhile, jumped to second place by leaning heavily on its offline network and channel incentives, nudging Samsung down a spot. Motorola had the most eye-catching performance overall, growing 52.4% compared to last year, while Apple followed with a 25.6% rise.
Apple also hit a personal milestone. For the first time, it broke into fourth place in India’s overall rankings. IDC says Apple shipped around 5 million iPhones this quarter — its best ever in the country. The iPhone 16 was the single best-selling model, taking 5% of all shipments, while the new iPhone 17 series and the iPhone Air together made up 16% of Apple’s quarterly volume. It’s the company’s strongest launch window in India since 2021.
The overall average selling price rose to $294 — about 14% higher than last year — showing how strongly mid-to-premium phones are performing. Entry-level devices (under $100) actually grew 35%, now taking 16% of the market, with Xiaomi, realme, and Vivo grabbing most of that pie. The $100–200 segment, long India’s mainstream battleground, slipped nearly 9% as buyers gravitated either lower or higher.
On the premium side, growth was much stronger. Devices priced $400–600 grew 10%, helped by discounts on Samsung’s S24 series. The $600–800 bracket jumped more than 40%, driven largely by Apple. And phones above $800 grew almost 53%, with Apple commanding two-thirds of the segment.
Qualcomm also had a good quarter, with shipments rising nearly 18% to claim 29% share, while MediaTek dipped to 46%. Offline retail was the other big winner, expanding more than 20% to take 56% share, as online sales fell.
IDC warns, however, that this momentum may not fully carry into Q4. High inventory, post-festive price corrections, and rising component costs are expected to slow things down.
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