India Smartphone Market Chinese Offensive... Samsung Maintains 2nd Place in Q3

Market Research Firm Canalys Q3 Report

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] In the third quarter, amid the aggressive push by Chinese smartphone companies in the Indian smartphone market, Samsung Electronics maintained its position as the second-largest market share (MS) holder. After losing the top spot to Xiaomi three years ago, the gap in market share with third-place Vivo is now just around 2 percentage points.

According to market research firm Canalys on the 22nd, smartphone shipments in India for the third quarter totaled 47.5 million units, a 5% decrease compared to the same period last year. However, this represents a 47% increase compared to the previous quarter.

Samsung Electronics shipped 9.1 million units in the quarter, capturing a 19% market share and ranking second. This is a 1 percentage point decline from the 20% market share held the previous year.

The top spot was held by Xiaomi, which shipped a total of 11.2 million units including its sub-brand Poco, accounting for a 24% market share. Although Xiaomi’s overall market share slightly decreased, it increased its premium segment share by leveraging the 'Mi11' series.

Chinese latecomers are also closing in rapidly. Third-place Vivo recorded shipments of 8.1 million units, holding a 17% market share. Fourth-place Realme shipped 7.5 million units, and fifth-place Oppo recorded 6.2 million units, respectively.

As smartphone demand in India showed signs of recovery, marketing competition among brands intensified. Apple, a representative high-end model player, also launched various promotional marketing campaigns ahead of the iPhone 13 release in September. Realme responded with a channel diversification strategy, handling 70% of its shipments online. Chinese Transsion, known as the 'Samsung of Africa,' is also expanding its scale.

Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said, "The impact of vaccine announcements on the Indian economy was enormous," adding, "Demand across India surged sharply from the end of June, and this demand increase trend is expected to continue during the festival season."

He also noted, "However, shipment was limited due to supply constraints of low-end models," and "With container shortages and increased logistics costs, similar phenomena are expected to persist into the fourth quarter."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.