1. The Indian smartphone market is growing…and it was a record Q2!
IDC says that a total number of 36.9 million smartphones were shipped to India in Q2 2019, which is the highest number for a second-quarter in India. It also represented a 9.9 percent year on year growth and 14.8 percent over the previous quarter. This is in line with Counterpoint’s claim of 37 million units, which it too claimed was a second-quarter record. Canalys and Strategy Analytics had come up with lower figures – 33 and 35.6 million – and Canalys had even claimed the growth had been slightly negative.
2. Samsung rising!
IDC also affirms that the second quarter of the year was a good one for Samsung, with the Korean company getting a 25.3 percent market share, up from 23.9 percent last year. Unlike Canalys, which had put Samsung a rather distant second to Xiaomi, IDC says that the brand is 3 percentage points behind the Chinese brand in India, which is close to what Counterpoint and Strategic Analytics had also said.
3. Vivo is at number three, realme is a growth star
Just like the other reports, IDC too agrees that the second quarter of the year was good to both Vivo and Realme. IDC’s report places Vivo at the third spot in the market with 31 percent year on year growth, but at 15.1 percent, it is well behind Samsung and Xiaomi at the moment – Canalys, remember, had put Vivo at 18 percent, not too far behind Samsung at 22 percent. Realme is a big star for IDC as well, though, recording a staggering 602.4 percent year on year growth to have a 7.7 percent market share, close to what Strategy Analytics (7.9 percent) and Canalys (8 percent) had given it, but below the 9 percent accorded to it by Counterpoint.
4. Oppo is at four and is growing too
The IDC report puts Oppo at number four in the Indian crowd. The brand has a market share of 9.7 percent, which is close to Canalys’ figure for it, and well above the 8 and 8.1 percent that Counterpoint and Strategy Analytics gave it. And while Counterpoint and Strategy Analytics had said that Oppo’s share had dipped from last year (indeed Counterpoint placed Oppo behind realme, which was number four in its report), IDC gives the brand a healthy 41 percent growth, which is second only to realme’s staggering 602.4 percent figure, although the latter was admittedly on a much lower base (realme was barely present in the market in Q2 last year).
5. Mi is number one, but by how much?
There is no doubting who the number one in the Indian smartphone market is. It is Xiaomi. However, the interesting part is just how far ahead of the competition the Chinese brand is. The IDC report gives Xiaomi a 28.3 percent market share, which is not that far ahead of Samsung’s 25.3 percent, with overall growth in volumes of 4.8 percent, which interestingly is the lowest in the top five. This is similar to Strategy Analytics who had given Xiaomi a 28.7 percent share and Samsung 26.3 percent, and Counterpoint which had put Xiaomi at 28 percent and Samsung 25 percent. Interestingly, Canalys had put Xiaomi at 31 percent, with Samsung a distant second at 22 percent.
6. Are there any others?
With the Big Five (Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, and realme) dominating the market, the share of other players is rapidly diminishing. As per IDC, the “others” category made up a fourth (25 percent) of the market, but Q2 2019 saw this dip to 13.9 percent. When you consider that this “others” include the likes of Huawei (and Honor), Nokia, Motorola, Micromax, and LG, its decline is a key reflection of the way in which the Indian mobile market is getting consolidated. Interestingly, IDC’s figure of 13.9 percent for “others” is the second-lowest among all the reports – Canalys had put it at 12 percent. Strategy Analytics had kept “others” at 18.1 percent while Counterpoint had them at 19 percent.
