Smartphone shipments in India declines amidst the festive season: Falls by 10% in Q3 – Smartprix

Despite the festival season in India, the Indian smartphone market share declined by 10% YOY shipping just 43 million units in the 3rd quarter with Vivo, Realme, and Xiaomi logging the sharpest fall in shipments, a report by IDC stated. The report claimed that this is the lowest 3rd quarter shipment since 2019 despite the quarter being a festive season in the country. “Weakening demand and increasing device prices negatively impacted festive buying, the research firm explained.

Which company scored how much?

Xiaomi led the smartphone market in India with a 9.2-million-unit shipments for a 21.2% share in the September quarter, while Samsung was number 2 with 8 million units and 18.6% share. Vivo came 3rd with 6.3 million units with 14.6% market share followed by Realme and Oppo with 6.2 million and 5.4 million units.

If we talk about the fall percentage, Samsung’s shipments fell 0.8% year-on-year in Q3. By contrast, Chinese brands Vivo (-19.5%), Realme (-18.1%) and Xiaomi (-18%) had the sharpest fall, while Oppo was the only brand to grow 6.1% year-on-year in the quarter, the IDC data claimed.

Did 5G roll out increase 5G smartphones sale?

The share of 5G smartphones in the country reached 36% of total smartphones in Q3 with 16 million units. India shipped 67 million smartphones between 1Q20 when 5G wasn’t launched commercially in India to 3Q22 when 5th generation in India- to being rolled out gradually by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. The ASP for 5G smartphones dropped to 393$ in 3Q22 from 509$ in 1Q20. Upasna Joshi, research manager at IDC said that alongside the rising supply chain costs leading to fewer discounts and increasing retail prices, a higher influx of more expensive 5G smartphones is also responsible for the rise in smartphone ASP’s in India.

The sub-$300 segment underperformed, as shipments declined by 15% yoy said IDC. The premium segment remained the highest growing price band with 64% growth during the same period and 8% share. Apple led the market with 63% share followed by Samsung with 22% and OnePlus with 9%. The research firm predicts that this will lead to a muted Q4 with 2022 exiting with 150 million units.

“The major challenges going into 2023 are the impact of inflation on consumer demand, increasing device costs, and slow feature phone-to-smartphone migration,” said Navkendar Singh, Associate VP, Devices Research IDC.

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