Samsung once again Indias top smartphone brand, Vivo ranks second

Samsung has once again emerged as the top smartphone brand in India, according to the latest market survey by Canalys. In the October-December quarter (Q4) of 2022, Samsung sold 6.7 million units, securing a 21 percent market share. Vivo ranked second with a shipment of 6.4 million units in the last quarter, representing a 20 percent share. But India’s overall smartphone market in the December quarter saw a decline of 6 percent with shipments of 151.6 million units as compared with 2021.

Canalys has reported that Xiaomi lost its lead position after 20 quarters, thanks to a decline in shipments last quarter to 5.5 million units. However, if you consider the entire year of 2022, Xiaomi is the top vendor, while Samsung is at the second position. Annually, Xiaomi saw a decline of 26 percent in shipments while Samsung’s shipments dipped by just 5 percent. Even though Xiaomi retains its top position for the full-year 2022, it emerged as the brand with the maximum decline in shipments.

“India was better positioned to weather the global downturn than other markets. But domestic consumer spending cooled in the last few months of 2022,” said Sanyam Chaurasia, Analyst at Canalys.

While the Diwali season spurted the growth, the demand cooled down. The intermittent supply issues and low demand caused by global macroeconomic headwinds led to a decline in shipments at the beginning of 2023.

“Even during the festive season, the domestic market suffered a fall in transactions, retail spending and electronic imports. In 2022, consumers already had up-to-date technology that they had bought during the pandemic, thereby delaying further purchases. This led to smartphone brands struggling with inventory management because demand was subdued. Vendor channel management strategies became more important than ever. The mid-to-high-end segment performed well this year, which will further catalyze the upgrade cycle,” he added.

During the October-December quarter, Realme suffered the maximum decline in shipments. As compared to Q4 2021, Realme’s shipments fell to 2.7 million units from 7.6 million units, representing a decline of 65 percent. Other brands, including Samsung and Xiaomi also saw their shipments plummet during the last quarter. However, Vivo and Oppo recorded an uptick in their shipments.