Xiaomi vs Vivo vs Realme vs OPPO: Who is dominating Indian smartphone market?

The market share of Chinese brands in the Indian smartphone market reached a record 66 percent during Q1, 2019, according a report. Volumes for the Chinese brands grew 20 percent year-on-year (YoY), mainly due to the growth of Vivo, Realme, and OPPO. Xiaomi continues to lead the India smartphone market, Realme continues to figure among the top five brands for the second successive quarter while Vivo’s market share reached its highest ever level in India in Q1 2019, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service.

While Vivo’s volume grew 119 percent YoY, OPPO grew 28 percent YoY. Vivo’s expanding portfolio in the mid-tier (Rs7,000 – Rs 14,000 or roughly US$100-US$180) drove its growth along with aggressive IPL campaign around flagship V series. OPPO, on the other hand, focused on expanding its portfolio in the less crowded Rs 15,000 – Rs 25,000 (roughly US$210-US$350) segment.

Commenting on the influx of Chinese brands, Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service, said, “India’s smartphone market continues to attract a lot of attention from Global and Chinese players. Data consumption is on the rise and users are upgrading their phones faster as compared to other regions. This has led to users spending more on their purchase which is driving up the overall average selling price (ASP) in the market. As a result of this, the premium specs are now diffusing faster into the mid-tier price brands. We estimate this trend to continue leading to a competitive mid-tier segment in coming quarters.”

India’s overall smartphone shipments grew 4 percent YoY. The market started off to a slow start after record festive season, but demand started picking up later in the quarter. 

Commenting on the smartphone market, Anshika Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, “The overall growth was slower than expected as some of the major brands were sitting on inventory after a stock build up during the festive period last quarter. This quarter we have seen all major brands expanding their footprint in offline channels to gain market share. Xiaomi has laid out big plans for offline expansion by increasing its number of retail stores (Mi Preferred Partners), Mi Homes, and Mi Stores specifically to target smaller towns. Realme, which started as an online-only brand, now gets the majority of its sales from offline channels. OnePlus is also now increasing its offline points of sale by launching exclusive stores across key cities.”

Chinese brands also dominated the top 5 best-selling list. Xiaomi Redmi 6A remained the top model following multiple price cuts followed by Xiaomi Note 6 Pro, Redmi Y2, Samsung Galaxy M20, and Galaxy A50. The top 10 models contributed to 35 percent of overall smartphone shipments.

On the performance of different brands, Jain highlighted, “Xiaomi remains the market leader driven by new product launches. However, it faced strong market competition as compared to a year ago. Samsung did a major refresh in its product portfolio launching a new online-only M series. It also undertook a product refresh of the A series during the quarter. The new A series and M series launches quickly contributed to three-fifths of Samsung’s total smartphone shipments during the quarter. Vivo’s share reached its highest ever level in India, driven by the V15 series launch and an aggressive marketing campaign around the same. Realme continues to grow fast in India, leveraging on the strong momentum for its Realme 3 model during the quarter”