Samsung leads smartphone shipments in India in Q4 2022; although Xiaomi retains top spot for the entire year

Samsung has risen to the top of the smartphone ladder, becoming the number one smartphone brand globally and in India during the last quarter of 2022. Canalys research shows that India’s smartphone shipments fell to 151.6 million units in 2022, declining by 6 percent compared with 2021.

Samsung also took the number one spot in Q4 2022 in India for the first time since Q3 2017, shipping 6.7 million units for a market share of 21 percent. Vivo placed second with 6.4 million unit shipped. Xiaomi lost its leadership position in Q4 2022 for the first time in 20 quarters and fell to third place with shipments of 5.5 million units.

However, Xiaomi still managed to retain the top spot as the number one smartphone vendor in India for the full year, shipping 29.6 million units and accounting for 20 percent of the market share in 2022. Samsung, on the other hand, placed second with 28.6 million units shipped and 19 percent of the market share.

Canalys’ report also noted that India’s smartphone market suffered its first-ever drop in shipments in the fourth-quarter holiday period, falling by 27 percent to 32.4 million. Sanyam Chaurasia, Analyst at Canalys said, “India was better positioned to weather the global downturn than other markets. But domestic consumer spending cooled in the last few months of 2022.”

Chaurasia added, “Xiaomi aimed to clear out inventory of its older models using the ecommerce channel. But, due to poor ecommerce festive sales performance, Xiaomi and realme saw significant stockpiling of their products in online channels in Q4 2022.”

Vivo placed third in overall smartphone market share in India last year, with 17 percent and 25.4 million units shipped. Oppo and Realme came in fourth and fifth, respectively, shipping 22.6 million (15 percent) and 20.9 million (14 percent) units. Chaurasia also notes that 2023 could see a sluggish performance in the smartphone market in the short terms.