China’s BBK Group keeps its lead over Xiaomi in the Indian smartphone market

The parent company for Vivo, OnePlus, Realme and Oppo, BBK, has dominated the Indian smartphone market with a 37% share for the whole of 2019.

The parent company for Vivo, OnePlus, Realme and Oppo, BBK, has dominated the Indian smartphone market with a 37% share for the whole of 2019. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The parent company for Vivo, OnePlus, Realme and Oppo, BBK, has dominated the Indian smartphone market with a 37% share for the whole of 2019. Over the last year, Xiaomi had a market share of 28%, according to the data from Counterpoint Research.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, the BBK Group captured a mammoth 43% share in the India smartphone market while Xiaomi bagged 27%.

For the brands that come from BBK - Vivo's market share grew to 16% in the calendar year 2019 from 10 % in 2018, Realme's share grew to 10 % in 2019 from 3% in 2018, OPPO's share grew to 9% in 2019 from 8% in 2018. OnePlus became one of the fastest growing smartphone brands with a 29% growth.

Realme grew a massive 255% in 2019, Vivo registered 76% growth and OPPO did a 28% this year.

In comparison, Xiaomi grew 5% year-over-year in 2019 driven by expansion in the offline space and strong performance of its Redmi Note series.

"India now has emerged as the biggest market for Xiaomi, surpassing its home market China in 2019. However, the growth rate has declined to single-digit as Xiaomi is now serving a much larger installed base in India," according to the data.

Vivo's growth in 2019 was driven by good performance of its budget-segment series.

"Also, by successfully pivoting to online and aggressively positioning the S series in the offline segment with new features, it managed to make a dent in ₹15,000-₹20,000 segment," said Counterpoint.

With an eye on 2020, BBK has introduced a fifth brand to the Indian market - iQOO. iQOO is expected to bring the first 5G-ready devices to the country and take on the new 'independent' brand POCO.

iQOO brand already has six devices in its portfolio in China with the most recent one being the iQOO Neo 855 Racing. The brand is going to work as a separate legal entity in the country.