International Data Corporation (IDC) has come out with a new report citing the growth and sales in the Indian smartphone segment. The report gives us a detailed idea of how the smartphone market performed during the pre-Diwali month.
The sales of 5G smartphones rocketed in October. Reportedly, half a million 5G smartphones were sold. A major chunk, almost 80% of those sales, occurred in the top 10 Indian cities. There is no official confirmation but one can expect that OnePlus Nord would have been the best-selling 5G smartphone in October 2020. Currently, the Indian government has made the 5G spectrum available but that could happen soon. Thus, people’s interest in 5G smartphones is justified.
The Indian smartphone market, which is the second-largest in the world, recorded a massive year-on-year (YoY) growth of 42% in the month of October. They shipped around 21 million units in the month. This is the second-highest record for shipments in one year, behind September’s shipment of 23 million units.
As people were relying more on the online channels to buy handsets, online channels reported a whooping 53% YoY growth. Not only the online channels, but offline mediums also reported a significant surge. As lockdown restrictions have eased up, the shops are allowed to operate. These offline mediums registered a year-on-year growth of 33%. Major contributors to these offline channels came from the smaller cities and towns of India.
It is also expected because buying a smartphone online might be considered a bit risky by the people from there. Thus, an offline channel is always considered more reliable and trustworthy. The Indian smartphone market is already dominated by the Chinese OEMs and the reports from October sales just re-confirms that dominance. Xiaomi led the market with the South Korean company Samsung coming second. They were followed up by Realme, Vivo, and Oppo.
The price bracket of $100-$200 generated the most sales as expected. The segment showed a growth of 53% YoY. Redmi 9, Redmi Note 9, and Vivo Y20 were the handsets that were most in demand. The market share of this segment also rose up to 58%. iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and OnePlus 8 were the most sold products in the premium segment, which comes under the bracket of $500-$700.
