Samsung seems bothered by Xiaomi's claims of being 'number 1', but do customers really care about such taglines?

It’s another day, and another smartphone sales/shipments related report is out.

As per today’s report, by Singapore-based Canalys, Xiaomi has emerged as the winner with 8.2 mn shipments , followed by Samsung with 7.3 mn in Q4 2017. Samsung has responded saying that it is still the topmost sold smartphone in the country according to German firm GfK.

Hearty congratulations to both Xiaomi and Samsung, but can we move on now?

While Xiaomi is yet to comment on the shipment numbers, Samsung has already sent out a statement saying that it leads the smartphone business across every segment.

“As per the German research firm GfK, which tracks sales to end consumers, in the last (November) quarter, Samsung had a 45 percent value market share and 40 percent volume market share,” a Samsung India spokesperson told IANS.

“GfK reports final consumption which is the most important measure of market share. Shipments are important but they don’t tell the final market share. The real share is what I sold out to my customers and here, we are pretty strong,” Samsung India’s global vice president, Asim Warsi had told IANS in a recent interview.

There’s no point obsessing over the “number 1” tagline, especially in a smartphone market as dynamic as India. It reminds me of those billboards put out by TV news channels who all claim to be number 1. And then you see an asterisk beside ‘No 1’, which then leads to fine print, which is tweaked according to their convenience to make them the winner.

You surely don’t want to go down that road.

Xiaomi and Samsung have together captured over 50 percent of the smartphone market share, and that’s no mean feat. But when it comes to numbers, both have radically different methods of calculating their own market share. And since the last two quarters, this has created confusion among the mind of consumers as to who is the top brand.

Remember, neither Samsung or Xiaomi has released its own numbers, they are only going by the numbers sent out by research firms such as Canalys, GfK, IDC and others. Each of these firms has different methods to arrive at these numbers. And yes, it gives a sense of which brand is making progress, but that’s about it. The figures are not necessarily accurate and are usually very good estimates of the smartphone scene. The next quarter, the same top brands may be lower down the rankings.

Shipment numbers basically mean that phones were boxed and sent out from the factory to the retail channels. Sales indicate how many of those shipped units ended up being bought by customers.

Also, it seems a bit silly on Samsung’s part to keep refuting reports which do not declare it to be the top smartphone brand. Samsung still sells a ridiculous number of smartphones in India. But the Korean giant also needs to acknowledge the fact that the landscape has changed, and barring its flagship phones — the Galaxy S8/S8 Plus, the Note 8 — there hasn’t been a budget or mid-range superstar from the Korean brand in a long time. Xiaomi, on the other hand, has had genuine hits in that segment in the form of the Redmi Note 4, for instance. And if it were to rest on the laurel of being number 1 in India, that will surely not help the brand.

Regardless of sales or shipment numbers, for the end consumers, the number 1 tag doesn’t really matter much. Brands like OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo and even Nokia have demonstrated how dynamic the Indian smartphone market is. And how fickle the smartphone buyer is.

According to a GfK report, smartphone sales are taking a hit in India as 4G Feature phone sales increase  — so that’s a whole other metric which smartphone makers will have to deal with going forward.

If brand loyalty was the only parameter to judge a brand, Nokia and Blackberry would be ruling the roost! This is definitely not the case today.

Customers are smart. Customers love innovation. Customers want more value for money.

We want innovations like Xiaomi’s Mi Mix design language, Samsung’s road warriors like Galaxy S8 / Note 8 , Apple’s Face ID system, Google Pixel’s cameras , the various Moto Mods, OnePlus’ flagship offerings at non-flagship price points, Oppo’s and Vivo’s awesome selfie cameras and more. That’s what we care about.

Let’s get this right: Customers are not going to stick around with you, just because you are number 1. In this golden age of smartphone innovation that we are living in, customers are ready to switch brands if it adds value to their life.

What we’d like instead is phones with long-lasting batteries, great after sales support, phones that don’t slow down after a year of usage, innovations in managing the e-waste problem created by the millions of smartphone sales every year, etc.

The number 1 tag will only give you street cred among channel partners and investors, and they are not your customers.