Chinese smartphone brands suffer loss in Indian market: report

Smartphone shipments to India declined year-over-year (YoY) by 51 percent in the second quarter of 2020. This information was found in a report by Counterpoint Research that was revealed on Friday. However, despite facing supply constraints and rising anti-China sentiments due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Xiaomi has continued to lead this quarter. Apart from this, it has also been reported that Samsung witnessed the fastest recovery in the epidemic and reached 94 percent of the pre-Kovid levels in the country. During the March quarter, the South Korean company gained 26 percent market share from the 16 percent market share.

According to a report by Counterpoint Research, the smartphone market is now back to normal after suffering a shock of stalled shipments due to a national lockdown in April and a 0.3 percent year-on-year decline in June. Xiaomi has retained its dominance in the second quarter of the year with 29 percent market share. This is higher than the 28 percent market achieved in the same quarter last year. However, the March quarter is less than 30 percent of the market.

After Xiaomi, Samsung holds the second position in the market. Samsung, which had achieved 25 percent market share in the same quarter last year, has managed to gain 26 percent share in this quarter. This is a 10 percent increase from the first quarter of this year.

Vivo is at number three with a 17 percent share in the quarter ending in June. The report said that the company has recovered 60 percent of the pre-covid market. Realme, which is in a tough competition against Xiaomi, is in fourth place with an 11 percent share. This is three percent higher than the nine percent share of the second quarter of last year. Although three percent lower than the March quarter.

Realme’s parent company Oppo has struggled a lot due to changes in supply. Nevertheless, the company has managed to occupy the fifth position with 9 percent market share.

In addition to these five big players, Counterpoint Research reports that OnePlus has regained its place in the premium market in the price segment above 30,000. It is expected that the company will gain more grip on this market with OnePlus Nord. Apart from this, Apple has maintained its dominance in the ultra-premium segment, which is above Rs 45,000.

Counterpoint Research analyst Shilpi Jain said that Chinese brands’ participation in the Indian market has come down from 81 percent in the first quarter of this year to 72 percent in the third quarter. The report says that the reasons for this decline are the constraints in the supply of big brands like Oppo, Vivo and Realme and the growing anti-China sentiment in India. These sentiments especially increased after the Indian government banned more than 50 Chinese apps. Since the India-China border dispute, the share of Chinese brands has also declined.

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