Samsung Catching Up With Xiaomi In India: Report

According to a report by market research firm Strategy Analytics, India smartphone shipments grew three percent annually to 35.6 million units in the Q2 of 2019. Xiaomi retained the first position, but a resurgent Samsung is closing the gap in second place.

"Xiaomi shipped 10.2 million smartphones accounting for 29 percent market share in India during Q2 2019, broadly flat from 29 percent share a year ago.

"Xiaomi remains the number one smartphone vendor in India, due to an extensive retail presence, but its lead over Samsung is starting to shrink," Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement.

The firm also pointed out that Samsung is on a recovery path and its smartphone market share has risen sharply from 23 percent in Q2 2018 to 26 percent in Q2 2019.
Enhanced Galaxy A and M series smartphones are helping Samsung penetrate deeper into the big online market.

"We expect Samsung to build further momentum and it is on track to reclaim the top position in the world's second-largest smartphone market during the second half of 2019," the firm said.

According to the Boston-headquartered firm, the growth was driven by generous discount schemes promoted by online retailers such as Flipkart. India today remains one of only a handful of growth markets among the global smartphone industry.

Vivo Captures 11% Market Share

Furthermore, Chinese smartphone Vivo captured 11 percent smartphone market share in India in Q2 2019, dipping from 12 percent a year earlier.

While, Oppo maintained fourth place with 8 percent smartphone share in India in Q2 2019, down from 11 percent during Q2 2018.

Realme A Rising Star

However, the firm said that Realme is a rising star and its India smartphone market share has jumped from zero to a record 8 percent in the past twelve months. Realme, an Oppo offshoot, is seeing surprisingly strong demand for its affordable Android models such as 3 and C2.