India smartphone market shrinks by nearly 50% in Q2 2020
By MYBRANDBOOK
Smartphone shipments in India fell 48% in Q2 2020, to 17.3 million units as the country faced an unprecedented shutdown of its economy until Mid-May due to COVID-19. Smartphone vendors faced a diabolical situation, dealing with both low supply due to a complete halt in production and diminished demand, as online and offline retailers were prohibited from selling smartphones. Xiaomi was the market leader in India, capturing 31% of overall market share, shipping 5.3 million smartphone units in the quarter. Vivo maintained the second position, shipping 3.7 million units, and grew its market share to 21.3% from 19.9% in Q1 2020. Samsung was third, with 2.9 million smartphones shipped, and also saw exports impacted as its largest manufacturing plant outside of Vietnam shut down for most of Q2. Oppo edged out Realme to take the fourth position as it shipped 2.2 million units, compared to Realme’s 1.7 million.
As local production suffered through the early stages of Q2, vendors like Xiaomi and Oppo imported smartphones to meet pent-up demand. “It’s been a rocky road to recovery for the smartphone market in India,” said Canalys Analyst Madhumita Chaudhary. “While vendors witnessed a crest in sales as soon as markets opened, production facilities struggled with staffing shortages on top of new regulations around manufacturing, resulting in lower production output. The fluidity of the lockdown situation across India has had a deep-rooted effect on vendors’ go-to-market strategies. Xiaomi and Vivo have undertaken an O2O (offline-to-online) strategy to support their massive offline network. Online channels, too, while seeing a positive effect of the pandemic on market share, have seen sales decline considerably.”
India is also battling floods in parts of Eastern India, and a stand-off with China in the Northern borders. “Luck is not on the side of the Chinese vendors,” says Canalys Research Analyst Adwait Mardikar. “There has been public anger directed towards China. The combinations of this and the recently announced ‘Aatmanirbhar’ (self-sufficient) initiatives by the government have pushed Chinese smartphone vendors into the eye of the public storm.” Canalys estimates that over 96% of all smartphones sold in India in 2019 were manufactured/assembled locally. “Vendors are driving the message of ‘Made in India’ to consumers and are eager to position their brand as ‘India-first.’ Despite the sentiment, the effect on Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Realme is likely to be minimal, as alternatives by Samsung, Nokia, or even Apple are hardly price-competitive,” added Mardikar.
Apple was the least impacted among the top-10 vendors as shipments fell just 20% year-on-year to just over 250,000 in Q2 2020. The vendor has recently announced its plans to diversify its supply chain and is pushing its major partners Foxconn and Wistron to increase its investments in India.
“The transition to 5G is the next big opportunity, and Jio’s announcement of readiness to deploy 5G, as soon as spectrum is made available, has provided a ray of hope to most vendors who have been beaten by the current pandemic,” added Chaudhary.
BREAKING NEWS
TECHNO TRENDS
Legal Battle Over IT Act Intensifies Amid Musk’s India Plans
The outcome of the legal dispute between X Corp and the Indian government c...
Wipro inks 10-year deal with Phoenix Group's ReAssure UK worth
The agreement, executed through Wipro and its 100% subsidiary,...
Centre announces that DPDP Rules nearing Finalisation by April
The government seeks to refine the rules for robust data protection, ensuri...
Home Ministry cracks down on PoS agents in digital arrest scam
Digital arrest scams are a growing cybercrime where victims are coerced or ...
E-Magazine
TECHNOTAINMENT
Hrithik Roshan to endorse RuPay as Brand Ambassador
RuPay is reportedly planning to feature Bollywood superstar Hrithik Rosha
India Today Group launches – AI Pop Stars
Staying true to our industry leadership position in using cutting-edge tech
MOVERS & SHAKERS
TelioLabs ropes in Phaniraj V A as the Group CEO
TelioLabs has announced the onboarding of Phaniraj V A as its new Group CE
Wipro Appoints Amit Kumar as Managing Partner and Global Head
Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading technology s
OPEN YOUR EYES
INTERVIEWS
AMD Pensando driving innovation in the DPU architecture space
AMD Pensando stands out in the DPU (Data Processing Unit) market with its u
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Carrying a 100 year legacy ahead
A good amount of R&D works and global support services are operated out of
HOT PICK
MSI Announces the availability of RTX 50 series of laptops in
MSI, the innovative computing manufacturer in gaming, creator
Nothing Phone (3a) goes on sale today, starting at Rs 19,999
The phone was launched on March 4, featuring a 50MP main, ultra-wide, and t
MAKE IN INDIA BRANDS
VVDN TECHNOLOGIES
POLYCAB INDIA PVT. LTD
VEHERE INTERACTIVE PVT. LTD.
SAFE SECURITY SERVICES PVT. LTD.
EMINENT CIO'S OF INDIA
ICONS OF INDIA
Icons Of India : NANDAN NILEKANI
Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies...
ICONS OF INDIA : VIJAY SHEKHAR SHARMA
Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian technology entrepreneur and multimil...
ICONS OF INDIA : RAJESH NAMBIAR
Rajesh leads the company’s India associates and enhances relationshi...
PARTNER SPEAKERS
PSU
C-DOT - Center of Development of Telematics
India’s premier research and development center focused on telecommu...
ITI - ITI Limited
ITI Limited is a leading provider of telecommunications equipment, sol...
LIC - Life Insurance Corporation of India
LIC is the largest state-owned life insurance company in India...
VIDEOS
Top 25 Brands
Global Indian industry
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO- Micron Technology
Sanjay Mehrotra, the President and CEO of Micron Technology, is at the...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - Rajiv Ramaswami, President & CEO, Nutanix Technologies
Rajiv Ramaswami, President and CEO of Nutanix, brings over 30 years of...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - ARVIND KRISHNA, CEO – IBM
Arvind Krishna, an Indian-American business executive, serves as the C...
ITFORUM 2025
CMO of the Year
WOMEN LEADERSHIP
IMAGE GALLERY
TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY
MORE VIDEOS
ADVERTISEMENTS
TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTION
UNICORNS REVOLUTIONISING
of images belongs to the respective copyright holders
