As the smartphone shipment reached a total of 33.5 million units in India during the second quarter of 2018 (2Q18), resulting in a healthy 20 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth, China’s Xiaomi remained the leader in the smartphone market with growing offline presence while maintaining dominance in the online space, research firm IDC has said.
According to IDC’s Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, Xiaomi contributed more than 56 per cent of the shipments in online space, while 33 per cent of its shipments went through offline channels in the second quarter of 2018.
“The market, however, is seeing rapid consolidation at the top end, as the top five vendors (Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivi, Oppo, Transsion) made up 79 per cent of the smartphone market in 2Q18, marginalising smaller brands,” said Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.
In the online segment, Huawei with strong shipments of its Honor branded phones, climbed to the second position with an all-time high of eight per cent share in the online segment in the second quarter of 2018.
"Huawei has had a stellar quarter worldwide moving into the second position, toppling Apple. In India, with a refreshed focus it has been able to grow its share in the online space in the last two quarters, on the back of several new launches across price segments. IDC believes Huawei should be seen as a serious long-term player in India market with all the ingredients to challenge Xiaomi and Samsung," adds Joshi.
Other online-focused vendors with online exclusive launches were OnePlus with its new launch OnePlus 6, Realme with Realme1 and Asus with Zenfone Max Pro series, all of which led to an annual growth of 44 per cent in the online channel shipments and taking the online share to 36 per cent of the smartphone market.
"The growing popularity of financing schemes in the offline channel across model portfolios by almost all vendors is driving affordability and thus pushing the overall smartphone ASP's to a record high of US$167 in 2Q18 from US$157 in 2Q17,” Joshi commented.
The premium end of the market (US$500+) grew almost two times year-over-year (YoY) mainly due to continued strong shipments of Samsung Galaxy S9 series and OnePlus 6, with OnePlus surpassing Apple to be the second biggest player in the US$500+ segment with a share of 21 per cent in 2Q18.
The feature phone market remained resilient with shipments of 44.0 million units in 2Q18, seeing a growth of 29 per cent over same quarter last year. Reliance Jio, the telecom operator and the main driver of the 4G feature phone segment with its JioPhone range of phones, remained the top vendor in the overall feature phone market. However, the 4G feature phone market saw a slight decline of 10 per cent quarter on quarter with 19.0 million units. IDC believes that this drop is due to JioPhone inventory build-up from 1Q18.
Xiaomi’s four smartphone models captured the top four slots in top models ranking, namely Redmi 5A, Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi Note 5 and Redmi 5, together accounting for 26 per cent of overall smartphone shipments.
Samsung remained at the second position in the smartphone market with an impressive 21 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth at the back of its newly launched "infinity" series model namely Galaxy J6. The brand continues to see strong shipments of its successful low-end models - Galaxy J7 Nxt, Galaxy J2 (2017) and J2 (2018), thus driving overall volumes. The high-end segment (US$500 and above) saw incremental demand with cash back offers and financing schemes across channels.
Vivo reclaimed its third position, as its shipments grew more than double from the previous quarter, registering a strong 18 per cent year on year growth in 2018Q2. The hit models namely Y71, V9 and Y83 being the key volume drivers.
Oppo slipped to fourth position, however, its shipments grew by 15 per cent year-over-year (YoY) in the second quarter of 2018 due to fewer marketing initiatives and absence of attractive offline channel schemes.
Transsion continued to be at the fifth position, as its offline focused Tecno branded phones grew by 26 per cent followed by itel with 14 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth in the 2Q18. The online exclusive brand Infinix grew by 45 per cent, registering an overall 53 per cent year-over-year (YoY) growth for the company.
"India will be the fastest growing large smartphone market for the next few years, making it a must for any smartphone player to be here. However, with increasing consolidation, it will be difficult for any new brand to carve a space here. IDC estimates the India smartphone market to continue growing in low double digits for the next couple of years. 2H18, with multiple sale events in the run-up to the Diwali festival, will be even bigger with growing aggression by online players, the sustained relevance of offline channel and several new launches planned by key vendors across price segments,” added Navkendar Singh, Associate Research Director, Client Devices, IDC India.About IDC Trackers.
