Get this: Xiaomi now shares the number one spot with Samsung in India

Xiaomi's aggressive pricing strategy coupled with wide presence on online and offline platforms contributed in the company's success

China-based Xiaomi and South Korea-based Samsung became the top smartphone brands in India with 23.5 market share each in Q3 of 2017, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC).

According to the report, Xiaomi’s year-on-year shipments tripled in Q3. The number of smartphones shipped by the China-based maker almost doubled compared to the same quarter a year ago. The Redmi Note 4, which was launched a year ago continues to dominate the Indian smartphone market and is still the best-selling smartphone in India with almost 4 million units sold in Q3.

Xiaomi’s aggressive pricing strategy coupled with a wide presence on online and offline platforms contributed to the company’s success.

On the other hand, Samsung continues to dominate India’s smartphone market and had registered a 39 per cent sequential growth quarter-on-quarter and 23 per cent year-on-year. Samsung's budget models include Samsung Galaxy J2, Samsung Galaxy J7 NXT, and Samsung Galaxy J7 Max. These have contributed to almost 60 per cent of the total volume for the company.

"In the coming few quarters, both Samsung and Xiaomi would need to further strengthen their channel play and significantly differentiate their products on technology and quality to sustain and fight for leadership in this hyper-competitive smartphone market," said Upasana Joshi, Senior Analyst, IDC India.

Interestingly, Lenovo made a comeback and became the third smartphone brand in the list with 9.0 per cent market share. Lenovo’s shipments increased 83 per cent from the previous quarter. 

China-based Vivo and OPPO shared the fourth and fifth position with 8.5 per cent and 7.9 per cent market share, respectively.  Vivo’s shipments declined after a record-breaking second quarter. The company still registered a healthy 153 per cent annual growth. OPPO, on the other hand, had the biggest sell-in quarter so far in India as vendor shipments increased by 40 per cent sequentially and 81 per cent from same period last year.

“After an online dominated pre-and post-Diwali period, the offline channel went through a rather soft festive period. E-commerce platforms will continue to be a big driving force for smartphone growth in India, although vendors' offline focus will continue to keep retail as the dominant channel in India,” says Navkendar Singh, Associate Research Director, Client Devices, IDC India.

The smartphone shipments in India reached a record high of 39 million units in Q3 2017 with a substantial growth of 40 per cent from the previous quarter and a 21 per cent growth from the same period last year. This has led to several firsts for the India smartphone market.

One, the India smartphone shipments accounted for 10 per cent of the global smartphone shipments for the first time ever in a quarter. Two, the overall mobile phone registered a 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth, highest sequential growth ever in India with more than 80 million of mobile phone shipments in the third quarter of 2017, said the report.