Xiaomi continues to lead Samsung for top spot in smartphone shipments: Counterpoint

Chinese smartphone manufacturer **Xiaomi** continues to top the smartphone sellers chart in the country, as per Counterpoint’s latest quarterly reports. In a research report published by Counterpoint, Xiaomi has a market share of 27 percent. Taking the Chinese company ahead of South Korean manufacturer Samsung which controls 22 percent of the market share in Indian smartphone shipments during Q4 of 2018. Xiaomi also reportedly secured the top position for CY 2018 with a market share of 28 percent while South Korean rival Samsung was able to take 24 percent of the market share during the same period. Additionally, India’s overall smartphone shipment figure also grew by 10 percent during the same period. [caption id=“attachment_5596831” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] The Redmi Note 6 Pro.[/caption] Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, Karn Chauhan in a statement stated, “India is the second largest smartphone market in the world after China. It has just surpassed 430 million smartphone users. However, this accounts for just 45 percent of the potential total addressable market for smartphones; India is underpenetrated relative to many other markets.” “This was one of the key reasons for its growth in 2018 where not only new users shifted towards smartphones but there was a healthy upgrade within price tiers, especially from entry-level smartphones to the mid-tier segment,” Chauhan further added. Interestingly enough, the other top smartphone players for the fourth quarter of 2018 was Vivo with 9 percent market share, Realme with 8 percent market share, and Oppo with 7 percent market share. Anshika Jain, another research analyst at Counterpoint Research said, " We saw key players gaining share while smaller brands exited the market as competition intensified. However, this doesn’t mean there is no room for new players. Realme, which started operations in Q2 2018, entered the top five brands in 4Q 2018, reaching more than four million users faster than any other brand." For the feature phone market, Jio occupied the top position with a whopping 38 percent market share for the last quarter of 2018, straight from 26 percent in the corresponding quarter in 2017. For CY 2018, Jio secured the top spot with a 38 per cent market share going from 11 percent in 2017. Samsung, which occupied a market share of 21 per cent for CY 2017, settled down at 12 percent for the year 2018. Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, highlighting the still important feature phone segment, added, “This is the first time the feature phone market grew faster than the smartphone market. India remains the largest market in terms of global feature phone volume. This highlights that while India is a fast-growing smartphone market, feature phones remain relevant for a large section of the population. Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.