Samsung hasn't led the smartphone market in India since 2017, but that changed in 2023 when the company outperformed all of its rivals to climb to the top of the leaderboard.
For the first time in six years, Samsung topped the mobile market in India with a smartphone market share of 18%, according to Counterpoint Research.
Samsung was followed by Vivo, which held 17% market share, Xiaomi with 16.5%, Realme (12%), and Oppo (10.5%).
Offline retail gains popularity in India
According to market researchers, Samsung managed to outperform its rivals in India thanks to the Galaxy A series' strong performance and aggressive marketing in the offline retail space.
The market watcher says offline retail channels in India grew in 2023 and reached 55% share. Many smartphone buyers in India reportedly want to test the look and feel of devices first-hand before committing to a purchase, and therefore, offline retailing gained traction.
Furthermore, the research firm believes offline retail channels will continue growing in 2024, as trade-ins become more popular and a larger number of phones are expected to adopt premium designs.
Counterpoint Research analysts also believe that foldable phones will gain more traction in 2024, as more OEMs are expected to join the segment. The firm estimates that foldable phone shipments in India will cross the 1 million mark this year.
Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Z Fold 6 foldable phones this summer. Not much is known about these upcoming devices, but recent findings suggest that the series, or at least the Galaxy Z Flip 6, will be upgraded with bigger batteries.
As for the Galaxy A series, devices like the Galaxy A15 and A25 are available in India already. Samsung is expected to add at least two more models to the A lineup for 2024, including the Galaxy A35 and the Galaxy A55, the latter of which might represent the best the A-series has to offer this year.
