Xiaomi beats Samsung to become highest selling smartphone brand in India in Q4 2017: CMR report

Xiaomi has toppled Samsung as the leader in the domestic smartphone market for Q4 2017, according to CMR’s India Monthly Mobile Handset Market Review Report. Samsung was also dealt a body blow after it lost its pole position to LYF’s JioPhone in the feature phone segment.

“LYF’s JioPhone was major growth driver for 4Q CY2017. Its shipments grew more than five-fold in 4Q. This new trend led to surge in market share of feature phones. With local manufactured JioPhones hitting the market in coming quarters, the vendor is expected to better its performance,” Narinder Kumar, Analyst, CMR-IIG said.

“In smartphones, Xiaomi became the clear market leader, on the back of its growing offline penetration and value for money products. We are expecting to witness revival in online strategy of Samsung along with its enhanced focus on enterprise business and Appgets,” he added.

According to the report, Xiaomi led the smartphone segment with 25 percent market share in the quarter ended December 2017, followed closely by Samsung with 23 percent. The third position on the list was held by Lenovo with a distant 9 percent market share, followed by Chinese peers Oppo and Vivo with 6 percent share each in the pie.

Meanwhile, the feature phone segment saw LYF’s JioPhone gobbling up the lion’s share with 27 percent under its belt. Samsung finished a distant second with a 14 percent share, followed by Micromax, iTel and Lava with 9 percent, 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

The report highlights a stellar performance by Chinese device makers in the domestic market, with Xiaomi leading the pack. The handset maker registered an staggering 317 percent growth year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and was  followed by iTel, which reported 217 percent growth.

LYF again made its presence felt by clocking 156 percent growth and finishing third. Vivo and Oppo followed at fourth and fifth positions with 116 percent and 87 percent growth, respectively.

However, not all Chinese brands had easy outing. Gionee reported negative growth of 46 percent, while handset maker HTC reported negative growth of 79 percent. HTC was the biggest loser, followed by Asus, which lost 66 percent. Intex and Videocon shared the third position, with both losing 59 percent.

According to CMR, the mobile industry in India saw a record 88 million units shipped for Q4 2017, with Samsung leading the overall pack with a 21 percent market share. iTel and Xiaomi shared second position with a 9 percent share each.

“Traditionally, December is a lean period. However, 4Q 2017 bucked this trend. From the throes of demonetization at the beginning of 2017, the India mobile handset market touched a new historic high in OND’2017. If one were to look at historic trends, the India mobile handset market usually sees high refresh cycles in May-June, coinciding with the college admission season, and in September-October, owing to the festive season,” Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR said.