Vivo records a massive growth in Q4 2019, Xiaomi still leads the way

It looks like several smartphone brands went all aggressive with their pricing and strategy last year, all of which resulted in a 7% year-over-year growth in both Q4 2019 and 2019, as per the latest Counterpoint report. While Xiaomi retained the top spot in the Indian smartphone market, one of the brands that is worth a mention here is Vivo. That's because the Chinese smartphone maker saw growth by a massive 132% year-over-year in Q4 2019 and 76% year-over-year in 2019 overall.

The report adds that one of the reasons for good sales and growth for Vivo could be because of the positive performance delivery by its 'budget' smartphones. 2019 was also the year when the firm upgraded its S series smartphones in the ₹15,000 - ₹20,000 price segment. This also led to the handset maker reaching the second position in the Indian smartphone market.

Also read: Smartphones below ₹5,000 are not selling in India

While the firm grew by 76% in 2019 (YoY), brands like Realme and Asus grew by 255% and 29% respectively. Talking more about Vivo, Counterpoint research analyst Anshika Jain added that while brands like Xiaomi and Realme have increased their offline point sale, "brands like Vivo have expanded their online reach with Z and U series." Also mentioned was that over the past four years, Xiaomi and Vivo among other brands grew by 15x and 24x respectively. "This highlights that OEMs are mature enough to capture the next wave of growth and further expand their operations in India," said Jain.

In the Q4 2019, Xiaomi retained the top spot with 7% growth over the Q4 2018, Vivo achieved the second spot with 136% growth while Samsung, Oppo and Realme were on the third, fourth and fifth position with 0%, 96% and 15% growth respectively.