Vivo becomes best selling smartphone brand in India, followed by Xiaomi and Samsung

vivo

India’s premium smartphone market saw a 36% growth in 2024, according to a CyberMedia research report. The report revealed that more people are buying expensive phones. A strong growth was witnessed in the Rs 50,000+ price range. Cheaper 5G smartphones below Rs 10,000 also saw a big jump of almost 80 per cent.

Vivo became the highest seller in India with an 18% market share in the last three months of 2024. It was closely followed by Xiaomi with 15.2 % per cent market share. Samsung got the third spot with 15.1% market share.Apple made it to the top five brands for the first time. The Cupertino-giant claimed about 11% of the market. This was mainly because of discounts and strong demand for iPhones.

Samsung remained the top mobile brand in India for the whole year. However, its sales in the budget segment Rs 7,000 - Rs 25,000 dropped by 7%. More customers are now picking premium phones instead of budget ones.

The report also noted that the feature phones like the ones sold by Nokia, Lava, Jio are not as popular as they used to be. In fact, sales of 2G feature phones fell by 22%, while 4G feature phones dropped by 59%. More people are switching to smartphones.

In the premium segment, which means phones priced above Rs 25,000, Samsung had the highest market share at 28%. Apple followed with 25%, and Vivo had 15% market share. Vivo also led in 5G smartphone sales, followed by Samsung.

Other brands had mixed results. OPPO’s sales grew by 33%, while Motorola saw a 48% jump. Nothing, a newer brand, grew by 800% because of strong demand for its Nothing 2a phone. Meanwhile, brands like Infinix and Tecno struggled.

Experts say 2025 may start slow for smartphone sales. However, brands will focus more on AI-powered features and premium models to attract buyers.