Xiaomi retained its crown as India’s top smartphone vendor during Q2, 2019, as smartphone shipments in the country grew to 36.9 million units, setting an all-time second-quarter shipment record. That’s according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), which claimed that the market grew 9.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) and 14.8 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), even as sales continued to remain sluggish globally.
According to the IDC’s latest ‘Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker’ report, Chinese handset maker, Xiaomi, saw its shipment volume grow by 4.8 percent (YoY) in Q2 while Realme grew exponentially, driven by the C2 and the 3/3Pro series. Samsung, meanwhile, registered a strong 16.6 percent (YoY) growth, fueled largely by the entry-level and mid-range segments. While Xiaomi and Samsung occupy the top-two spots with 28.3 percent and 25.3 percent shares, respectively, Realme comes in at number 5 with 7.7 percent.
“Despite the efforts towards multi-channel retailing by almost all vendors, the online channel continued its growth momentum fueled by multiple new launches, attractive offers and affordability schemes like EMIs/cashbacks”, Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said in a statement. “This resulted in the YoY growth of 12.4 per cent for the online channel with an overall share of 36.8 per cent in 2Q19”, she added.
The latest data from IDC seemingly corroborates an earlier report from Counterpoint Research, which came out with similar figures late last month, reporting that smartphone shipments in the country had hit a record 37 million units during the quarter.
The Indian smartphone market will continue its growth trajectory in the second half of this year but the consolidation of top few brands will continue, said IDC. “This will make it much more challenging for smaller players to find niches of growth. A very strong 2H19 is essential to bring double-digit YoY growth in the fastest-growing smartphone market of this size globally”, noted Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices and IPDS, IDC India.
