Xiaomi has once again topped the smartphone market in India with the shipments shooting up to 10.5 million in 2018 Q4. According to the latest report released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), Xiaomi led the smartphone market with 28.9 per cent share, followed by Samsung with 18.7 per cent share and Vivo raking up a 3.5 per cent share in the last quarter, as well as 2018 as a whole. Apple, on the other hand, has not even made to the chart as it reels over the dip in iPhone sales in India, China, and other major markets.
Overall, the smartphone market in India grew by 43.9 per cent in 2018 with OnePlus leading the super-premium market, closely followed by Samsung that outshone Apple with its Galaxy S9 smartphone, which was launched last year. Samsung is now gearing up for the launch of Galaxy S10 at its Unpacked event on February 20, just a few days ahead of the Mobile World Congress (MWC).
The data by IDC shows Xiaomi saw a 58.6 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) growth in 2018 as compared to 2017, the report has revealed. Samsung’s attempts at taking Xiaomi down have not been really fruitful as the market share in the 2018 Q4 shrank by 7.9 per cent over the same quarter in 2017. At the third position is Vivo that stands at a market share of 9.7 per cent in 2018 Q4.
Realme, the latest entrant to the entry-level and affordable smartphone market, has managed to appear in the top five names on the chart. Starting off as an online-exclusive brand, Realme kicked off its innings with a market share of 7.5 per cent in Q4 with the total shipments standing at 2.7 million. Oppo’s market share surged by 71.7 per cent in the 2018 Q4 as compared to the same timeline last year.
The online-focused brands took the online medium share to an all-time high of 38.4 per cent in 2018 whereas the results in the Q4 went up to 42.2 per cent. The offline sale market saw a dip as the annual growth stood at 6.7 per cent while the standalone Q4 ended up with a 5 per cent growth. The shipments from companies including Xiaomi, Asus, and OnePlus diverted to the online channels more than the offline ones, seeing a phenomenal rise of 47.3 per cent YoY.
The top emerging smartphone brands are Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivo, Realme, and Oppo, all of which contributed to the affordable segment of the market. The overall average selling price of smartphones ended up flat at Rs 11,000 ($158). The highest number of smartphone shipments was observed in the mass price segment of Rs 7,000 – Rs 14,000 ($100 – $200), accounting for more than half of the smartphone market.
The feature phone market, which boomed recently in India, was driven by Jio Phone and Jio Phone 2 that account for 56 per cent of the market share. The total shipments stand at 181.3 million in 2018 seeing a 10.6 per cent YoY growth.

Source: financialexpress.com