Xiaomi May Lose Top Spot in Indian Smartphone Market in 2022

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 shutterstock website

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is confident that it volition exist able to retain its No. ane position in the Indian smartphone market next twelvemonth too, but industry experts believe that the country may see a different winner in 2020.

At the end of the first quarter of 2019, Xiaomi had a market place share of 30.half-dozen percent, far ahead of Samsung, which took the 2d spot with a share of 22.3 percent, co-ordinate to an International Data Corporation (IDC) report. But by the third quarter of 2019, Xiaomi'southward market share brutal to 27.1 per cent. Samsung likewise experienced a reject as its share went downwards to xviii.9 per cent, IDC data showed.

"Given the remarkable Q3 2019 strides made by the BBK (parent visitor of OPPO, Vivo, Realme and OnePlus) brands in India, Xiaomi would need to be wary of the rising competition and the decline in its market share. In the commencement iii quarters of 2019, Xiaomi lost three per cent market share", Prabhu Ram, Caput-Manufacture Intelligence Grouping (IIG), CyberMedia Research (CMR), told IANS.

Out of the BBK Group brands, Realme's rise in the Indian smartphone market has been truly spectacular. From 6 percent marketplace share in Q1 of 2019, it grabbed 14.3 percentage market share at the end of Q3. Vivo also witnessed its fair share of growth this year. Its share rose from 13 percent in Q1 to 15.2 percent in Q3. OPPO did even better than Vivo in terms of growth. OPPO'south share grew from vii.half-dozen percentage in Q1 to 11.8 percentage in Q3, co-ordinate to IDC.

"As per our estimates, 49 per cent of the sales of smartphones in 2020 will be in the basic segment (Rs 5,001 to Rs 10,000) where Xiaomi is withal strong", said Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst at market inquiry firm techARC. "The other major chunk is mid-segment (Rs 10,001 to Rs 25,000). Here we have increasingly good number of strong players emerging like Realme, OPPO and Vivo. This segment will sell 44 per cent of smartphones", Kawoosa said.

Speaking of Xiaomi'south prospects of retaining the No.i position side by side year, he said that "looking at the potential and how Xiaomi is positioned, it seems difficult for the brand to retain the honours". "It is now on a defensive mode", he added. "As Realme comes with new offerings in the mid-tier and premium segment, and OPPO and Vivo also unveil plans to become premium, Xiaomi faces an uphill battle", Ram agreed.

To retain their numero uno position, Xiaomi would need to go beyond its existing brand imagery and too consolidate its offline play, Ram said. "Xiaomi has been able to build on their offline play by building their ain chain of Mi Stores, apart from their non-exclusive network of Mi Preferred Partners", he added.

Only if Xiaomi loses the top spot in the Indian smartphone marketplace, which brand will replace it? While CMR's Ram thinks that the question is "wide open right now", Kawoosa believes that Samsung could resurface every bit the leader. "It will accept other challenger brands time to cross the 20 per cent mark and eventually aspire to become No i. In that case, Samsung could resurface as the leader while Xiaomi'due south share is being eaten upward by Realme and others", he said.

Ram, however, warned that i cannot underestimate the potential of Realme. "Realme looks promising and with aggressive strategies, it is potentially well-placed to scale new heights, as long every bit it is able to avert inventory overabundance", Ram said.

According to IDC, India's smartphone market shipped a tape 46.6 million units in the third quarter of 2019, registering 26.5 percent quarter-over-quarter and 9.3 percent year-over-year growth