Xiaomi ships 12 mn smartphones in Q3, despite dip in the overall market in India: Canalys

According to a new report by research firm Canalys, the total smartphone market in India declined by 1 percent year-on-year to 40.4 million units as against 40.8 million units in the year-ago period.

The firm said Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi shipped more than 12 million smartphones in Q3 followed by Samsung (23 percent), Vivo (11.1 percent), Oppo (8.8 percent) and Micromax (6.3 percent).

The report pointed out that said Micromax's "surprise re-entry" into the top five, with 2.6 million shipments, was strongly helped by a government order from Chhattisgarh state.

"While Micromax is not likely to displace Xiaomi or even Oppo and Vivo in India in the near future, its return marks a shift in the strategies of local vendors. Should more governments follow Chhattisgarh's footsteps, local vendors will find themselves relevant again, especially in increasing the crucial total available market for Indian smartphones," analyst TuanAnh Nguyen said.

Meanwhile, a report by another research firm also said that domestic handset maker Micromax has made a comeback to the top five brands for the first in two years.

Micromax, along with Reliance Jio, has won an order from the Chhattisgarh government under which it will be the sole supplier of five million smartphones to be distributed to the women and students in the state, Counterpoint noted.

However, shipments are likely to decline following completion of the order, it said.

However, counterpoint said that India smartphone shipments during the July-September period of this year grew 24 percent sequentially and five percent year-over-year and the top five brands captured 77 percent share of the total smartphone market during the quarter.