India smartphone shipment slips marginally to 33 million units in Q2 2019

Smartphone shipment in India saw a marginal fall with 33 million units being shipped in the second quarter ended June, according to research firm Canalys. A total of 33.1 million units were shipped in the country in the second quarter of 2018, the data from Canalys showed. "Smartphone shipment slipped 0.5 per cent in India in Q2 2019 as feature phone users refrained from upgrading to smartphones," it said.

Chinese firm Xiaomi led the tally with 10.3 million or 31 per cent market share to mark eight straight quarters as market leader, followed by South Korean tech giant Samsung that saw a shipment of 7.3 million units (22 per cent share) in the quarter. Vivo had 18 per cent share (5.8 million units), followed by Oppo with 9 per cent (3 million) and Realme at 8 per cent share (2.7 million), it added.

"The decline in the market is not a cause of worry. However, the lack of growth is against the expectation of several major vendors. Feature phone users are not taking to smartphones as quickly as the industry had expected and the bulk of growth in the Indian smartphone market is now coming from users who are upgrading their devices to a USD 200 (about Rs 15,000) or even a USD 300 (about Rs 20,000) smartphone," Canalys Research Director Rushabh Doshi said. India must now brace for further sluggish volume growth, as vendors stop focusing on sub-Rs 10,000 (about USD 150) devices and move on to raise Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 (USD 150-300) portfolios, Doshi said adding that the silver lining to this shift will be a brisk uptick in average selling prices.

Canalys said the market continues to consolidate about the top-five vendors with these players accounting for 88 per cent of the market during the quarter, compared with 80 per cent in the year-ago period. In a separate statement, Vivo cited the Canalys report to state that its shipment had registered 63 per cent annual growth to 5.8 million units in the said quarter. Vivo's top selling devices during the June 2019 quarter were the Y17 and Y91, which shipped over 1.5 million units.

"Both our budget-friendly Y series and innovation-led V series has received a tremendous response from our customers. India remains an important market for Vivo globally," said Nipun Marya, director (srand strategy), Vivo India.