Samsung Regains Lost Share in Indian Smartphone Market, Apple Reduced to 1% in Q2

Jul. 24, 2018

Significantly,Applehad a mere 1 percent market share during the quarter – its lowest in recent history – owing to changes in its distribution strategy and domestic assembling not picking up the pace.

The top five brands captured 82 percent of the total smartphone market in India that returned to double-digit growth (18 percent) year-on-year after a flat first-quarter growth, said the report.

Vivo with 12 percent, OPPO with 10 percent andHonor(a Huawei sub-brand) with 3 percent followed Samsung and Xiaomi.

“Samsung has regained the leading position back after receding it to Xiaomi two quarters ago. The success of Samsung can be attributed to its refreshed ‘J’ series as it launched the most number of models as compared to any brand across multiple price points during the quarter,” said Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst.

“Additionally, the strong offline distribution and aggressive marketing campaign around its ‘J’ series helped the brand to gain not only the market but also mindshare during the quarter,” he added.

“The growth can be attributed to its strong product and supply chain strategy which has allowed it to launch products with a longer shelf life than its competitors, that too in the important sub-Rs 10,000,” said Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service.

India smartphone market returned to double-digit growth during the quarter and is likely to grow in double digits for the entire year.

“Growth during the quarter was driven by new launches and strong promotions across both online and offline channels during the quarter,” said Anshika Jain, Research Analyst.

The feature phone market continues to outpace the smartphone market with a growth of 21 percent (year-on-year).

Reliance Jio captured almost half of the total feature phone market driven by the success of its Jiophone.

OnePlus (284 percent), Honor (188 percent) and Xiaomi (112 percent) were the fastest growing smartphone brands during the quarter.

Honor continues to retain its share among the top five brands while OnePlus led the premium (above Rs. 30,000) segment for the first time ever.

Lava is the only local brand which registered positive annual growth during the quarter driven by entry-level models including its first Android Go device “Z50”.

Three out of the top five models during the quarter were from Xiaomi with Redmi 5A being the best seller during the quarter, the report added.