Xiaomi has become the fastest growing smartphone brand in Q3

According to the new report by research firm Counterpoint, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has become the fastest growing smartphone brand in the third quarter of 2017, with a growth of 292 percent Year-on-Year (YoY).

The rise of Xiaomi brand in India can be attributed to the fact that the mid-price segment (about Rs. 10,000) in India started to peak in late 2016. Xiaomi, with its Redmi Note 4, was right there and became the model of the market within no time," IANS quoted Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Mobile Devices and Ecosystems, Counterpoint Research.

He said that Xiaomi's offline expansion into India with right device portfolio helped the smartphone maker cement its position right after the market leader Samsung.

"It will be difficult for Xiaomi to root out Samsung in the Indian market but yes, it won't be a surprise to see Xiaomi becoming number one model in one of the upcoming quarters," Pathak added.

Meanwhile, Vivo and Oppo registered a growth of 121 percent and 117 percent YoY during Q3 2017. Overall, in Q3 2017, a whopping 40 million smartphones were shipped, thereby registering a growth of 13 percent YoY and 32 percent QoQ. That said, festive season helped the smartphone sales in the country.

The report further said that domestic handset maker Micromax posted its best quarter and emerged as the third largest feature phone player in India, while Nokia has managed to garner the fourth place in the same segment.

The "Bharat 2" was the best-selling smartphone in the sub-Rs 5,000 segment, the firm said.

Micromax has also announced its partnership with the leading State telecom operator BSNL and announced its much awaited 4G VoLTE phone- Bharat 1.

Bharat-1 is powered by a 2000 mAh battery and Qualcomm® Snapdragon processor. The phone comes with 512MB RAM and 4GB ROM, a 2.4 inch QVGA screen, 2 MP rear camera and VGA selfie camera, 4G VoLTE and Dual Sim connectivity and offers multiple content option under one roof of Micromax Entertainment that means unlimited fun ranging from Live TV to Music, Movies and Videos which are available for the suite of entertainment apps for the users to watch their favorite content on the move.