Indian Smartphone Market Grows 9% as Vivo Followed by Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo, and Realme

The Indian smartphone market grew 9% in volume stubbing off sluggish mid-year sales as companies intensified clearing the inventories with online and offline deals before the onset of the festive season. A Canalys report, however, stated that though food inflation was high a large summer slump in consumer durables saw slower initial festive demand.

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Analyst at Canalys, Sanyam Chaurasia said that even as vendors were aggressively trying to ship devices with festive demand predictions there was a chance of inventory lingering longer than planned since consumer interest remained lower than expected. The Chinese brand Vivo was No. 1 in the market for the first time with a share of 19 percent, shipping 9.1 million units from July to September on strong channel strategies. Xiaomi (including POCO) came in second place, having shipped 7.8 million units driven largely by its wallet-friendly 5G devices. Canalys also said Samsung came in third place with 7.5 million units shipped.

Oppo (excluding OnePlus) and Realme completed the top five, shipping 6.3 million units and 5.3 million units respectively. And other brands beyond the top five also did well.  Apple noted increased demand for the iPhone 15 in smaller cities before its launch. Motorola, Google, and Nothing have attracted attention largely with designs that are a little unusual, but more user-friendly than in the past – as well as plans for moving into other categories.

Chaurasia noted that in Q3, consumers interested in trading up leaned more toward premium devices since there was a wider selection of mid-to-high-end options available as well as impressive trade-in offers and easy financing plans. On the other hand, demand for entry-level cars was muted as prices were increasing forcing consumers to postpone purchase till after Diwali. He also pointed out that the festive season of Diwali is coming and smartphone makers are making heavy offline sales, fearing inventory levels at the year-end. Effective stock management in the latter half of 2024 will likely rely on significant discounts and extended channel margins, according to the research firm.

Looking ahead, Canalys forecasts modest single-digit growth for 2025 as the replacement cycle spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic concludes in the first half of next year. Chaurasia emphasized that the push for ultra-low-end 5G devices will be crucial for organic growth in 2025, despite some challenges in material costs. Major launches of sub-₹10,000 5G devices are expected next year, driven by component vendors and OEMs.

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