How Indian smartphone makers Micromax, Intex lost business to Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo

Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo together in India have posted combined sales of Rs 22,527 crore in the year ending March 2017, according to the latest regulatory filings.

The latest sales figures are almost eight times higher than the previous fiscal when the three companies made sales of Rs 2,919 crore.

The development was first reported by The Economic Times.

However, compared with their performance, Samsung was the only non-Chinese player which remained relevant in the fiscal 2017 and posted sales of Rs 34,000 crore, a 27% increase from the year before.

Experts say that heavy investment in distribution and sales, as well as focus on launching high-end products at prices that are lower than established brands and at regular intervals, have helped these companies grossly outpace the market.

Xiaomi has emerged as the winner amongst the Chinese phone maker companies. Besides, it also witnessed its market growth in India throughout the year 2017 with its sales quadrupled in September quarter and accounted for 24 percent of India’s smartphone market, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Samsung also controls 24 percent of the market in the country and registered quarter-on-quarter growth of 39 percent.

The IDC report stated that Lenovo is the third largest seller in India with 9 per cent of 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.

As the sales of Chinese phone makers were growing in the FY 2017, the Indian smartphone makers saw their business slumped. The largest domestic player, Micromax witnessed 42 per cent fall in business to Rs 5,613.97 crore followed by Intex with 30 per cent fall to Rs 4,364.08 crore.

According to the ET report, lack of 4G handsets in Indian smartphone makers’ portfolio contributed in drastically affecting their sales.