India beats US to become 2nd largest smartphone market in 2019

Boosted by the success of Chinese brands in the country, the Indian smartphone market has surpassed the US market for the first time, on an annual level, to become the second largest market globally. China still sits at the first spot.

Boosted by the success of Chinese brands in the country, the Indian smartphone market has surpassed the US market for the first time, on an annual level, to become the second largest market globally. China still sits at the first spot. (YouTube)

Boosted by the success of Chinese brands in the country, the Indian smartphone market has surpassed the US market for the first time, on an annual level, to become the second largest market globally. China still sits at the first spot.

India's shipments reached 158 million in the calendar year 2019 with a 7% year-on-year (YOY) growth, according to a report from Counterpoint Research.

Xiaomi continued to be the top player with 28% market share in 2019, with Samsung coming in second with 21% and Vivo came in third with a 16% market share, said Counterpoint's 'Market Monitor' service.

"Although the rate of growth for smartphone market hit single digit for the first time ever on an annual basis, India is underpenetrated relative to many other markets with 4G penetration in terms of subscribers being around 55 per cent," Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint told IANS.

"Chinese brands share hit a record 72% for the year 2019 as compared to 60% share a year ago. This year, we have seen all major Chinese players expanding their footprint in offline and online channels to gain market share. For instance, Xiaomi, Realme, and OnePlus have increased their offline points of sale while brands like Vivo have expanded their online reach with Z and U series," said Anshika Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint speaking to IANS.

Over the past four years, Xiaomi, Vivo, and OnePlus have grown 15 times, 24 times and 18 times, respectively.

"This highlights that OEMs are mature enough to capture next wave of growth and expand their operations in India," Jain added.

Samsung shipments have actually shown a 5% (YoY) decline in 2019.

"This is for the first time Samsung transitioned to a completely new portfolio targeting different channels (offline with A series and online with M series). However, it needs to double down its efforts to keep the momentum going," the report noted.

While the smartphone market registered YoY growth, the feature phone market witnessed a steep decline of nearly 42% YoY in 2019 and 38 % (YoY) in Q4 2019.

"This is due to slowdown in the new shipments from Reliance Jio. However, the players such as itel, Lava, Nokia and Micromax registered positive annual growth despite the overall segment declined showing the untapped potential of the market," said the report. As per the report, itel emerged as the number one feature phone brand in Q4 2019, followed by Samsung and Lava.

(With agency inputs)