Xiaomi emerges as fastest growing smartphone brand in India: IDC

Chinese phone maker company Xiaomi has witnessed its sales quadrupled in September quarter in India and emerged as the fastest growing smartphone brand in the country, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Xiaomi accounted for 24 percent of India’s smartphone market in the third quarter, which is over 6 percent rise from the last quarter when its market share was at 17 percent.

Samsung, which is another largest phone seller in India, also controls 24 percent of the market in the country and registered quarter-on-quarter growth of 39 percent.

Besides, the two top players, Lenovo made to the third position with 9 percent of the market share. The company had slipped to the fifth position in the last quarter with the continuous decline in market share in the first two quarters. In September quarter, its shipments increased by 83 percent.

Vivo, which was at the third position with a market share of 13 percent in June quarter, has slipped to the fourth position with 8.5 percent market share.

Also Read: Xiaomi India sets to achieve revenue of $2 billion this year

Another Chinese company Oppo has been able to retain the market share as it controlled 7.9 percent in the September quarter, only 0.1 percent less than the previous quarter.

According to IDC, pre-festive season sales and attractive deals on smartphones offered by Amazon, Flipkart and other online stores pushed forward the smartphone sales in the country.

Around 13 million smartphones were sold online in the September quarter, making for year-on-year growth of 35 percent and quarter-on-quarter growth of 73 percent.

“Online retailers have popularized many trends in the Indian smartphone market, like making devices more affordable through easy financing options, attractive exchange offers on existing smartphones. On the back of fresh infusion of funds and focus on India market, the online stores are expected to remain aggressive in 2018 as well,” said Jaipal Singh, senior analyst, IDC India.

India now accounts for 10 percent of global smartphone sales with 39 million smartphones sold in the country between July and September this year, which is 21 percent more than during the same period last year.