This may come as no surprise to anyone, but the Chinese Brand Xiaomi and the South Korean giant Samsung hold the lion’s share in India’s smartphone market. Together they govern 50% of the Indian Market!
According to the Asia/Pacific Mobile Phone Tracker Report of International Data Corporation (IDC), Xiaomi surpassed Samsung and became the market leader, holding 28.8% share in the Indian market. Samsung now holds the second position with 22.4% market share. About a year ago, except Samsung, the top smartphone brands in India were all Chinese. They included Vivo (14.2
Responding to the Report, Managing Director Xiaomi, India, Manu Kumar Jain had
In contrast, Apple experienced lower than expected sales of iPhones and couldn’t have a big impact in the Indian Smartphone Market. In fact, Apple holds only 1.2% of the market share in India.
The Reason Behind It
The reason behind Apple’s poor performance in India could be the fact that the premium smartphone segment (meaning phones that cost over 35,000) holds a lean market share of only 3%. OnePlus emerged as the leader in Rs. 30,000-40,000 premium segment, with OnePlus 6 and the newly-launched OnePlus 6T. However, in the super premium segment of Rs. 50,000+, Samsung surpassed Apple to claim the top position with its Galaxy S9 series.
Under the “Make in India” campaign, the government hiked up duty on mobile components in 2018 so that it could push for local manufacturing. This, however, made smartphones even more expensive. In addition, weakened rupees value contributed to making the iPhone even more inaccessible to its audience.
Looks like Chinese phones are enjoying their moment in the limelight, not to mention all the love and adulation of the audience in India. Will iPhone be able to bounce back and reclaim its top spot and win hearts again? Let’s wait and find out!
