Samsung is slowly losing its grip on the Indian smartphone market. Three years ago, Samsung slipped from its number one ranking in the country, paving the way for Xiaomi to become the smartphone leader. The two companies have been competing fiercely over the past few quarters. However, Samsung is now lagging way behind Xiaomi.
According to the latest numbers from market research firm Canalys, Samsung shipped just 5.5 million smartphones in India during Q2 2021. That's close to half of what Xiaomi achieved. Samsung's market share turned out to be 17% during the quarter, while Xiaomi, which shipped 9.5 million units, had a market share of 29%. Samsung's year-over-year growth was 87%, while Xiaomi's year-over-year growth was 77%.
Vivo shipped 5.4 million smartphones in the country and has a market share of close to 17%. The Chinese firm is quite close to defeating Samsung and earning second place in the rankings. Realme, OPPO's subsidiary brand, shipped 4.9 million smartphones and achieved a whopping 181% year-over-year growth and a market share of 15%. On the other hand, OPPO shipped 3.8 million smartphones and had a market share of 12%.
The Indian smartphone market saw an overall growth of 87% compared to Q2 2020. Last year, the country went through strict COVID-19 related lockdowns during Q1 and Q2, severely affecting smartphone sales. The smartphone market has not fully recovered yet, and rising costs are not helping either.
Canalys claims that smartphone brands will see some increase in demand in the second half of this year, but they have to invest more in online sales channels since the third COVID-19 wave seems inevitable. Samsung has been focusing a lot on online sales and launching exclusive products for Amazon and Flipkart.
