Samsung,inspiteof the Note 7 fiasco, still retains the number one slot in India mobile space in terms of shipments for the first quarter of 2017 -January, February and March. It was followed by Xiaomi. The finding wereshared bya Singapore-based agency named Canalys.
Samsung maintained the top spot shipping about 6 million units of which Samsung’s J-series played a major role, claims the report. Closing in Samsung was Xiaomi which shipped about 4 million units accounting for about 14 percent of total shipments in the first quarter of 2017. Last year in Q1 2016 Xiaomi had only 3 percent share in smartphone shipments in India.The report further claims that the overall Indian smartphone market has grown by 12 percent compared to Q1 2016.
Ishan Dutt, a Canalys Research Analyst said,” Xiaomi’s success in India is underscored by its online go-to-market strategy. Demonetization seems to have had no impact on it, as its target customer is young, Internet-enabled and primarily buys online.”
Vivo took the third spot with over 10 percent of total shipments with a growth rate of 36 percent in sequential shipments. “Vivo was just shy of shipping 3 million smartphones in the quarter. Its strategy to focus on the highly fragmented ‘unorganized’ retail market is paying off,” said Mo Jia, Research Analyst.
Jia also claimed that Vivo’s aggressive marketing strategies have managed to swipe off local vendors. Interestingly, a recent report by Gartner also highlighted the impact of this aggressive marketing from Chinese vendors on local Indian vendors. Lastly, Lenovo and Oppo took the fourth and fifth spot respectively.
Sadly, none of the Indian handsetmakers, including Micromax, made it to the Top 5. It does indicate they were hard hit by demonetizationand loosing grip of the market. Also, the success of Vivo which was a result of a better outreach program for offline distributors suggeststhat Indian brands are nolonger preferred vendors for distributors in India,which traditionallyhave been their forte.