Samsung might have lost its market share in the Indian market, but in the premium segment (above Rs 50,000), it' still the leader. According to CMR’s India Mobile Handset Market Review Report for Q1 2018 released today, the super premium segment (Rs 50,000) saw Samsung taking top honours ahead of flagships with its Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ from Apple iPhone X and Google Pixel 2. While Apple reigned supreme in Q4 2017 with the launch of iPhone X and iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, Q1 2018 saw the shipments of its premium flagships decline by 74%. Furthermore, the search giant Google is still not enjoying success with its Pixel 2 lineup of devices as Google' share has come down to 2% from 11% at the end of Q1 2018 as compared to Q4 2017.
The report also revealed that 94% of the smartphones were 'Made in India,' with 26% YoY growth. On the other hand, imports of feature phones grew by 11% in market share, as 74% of LYF’s JioPhones were imported in 1Q 2018. In the overall smartphone shipments space, Xiaomi remained the market leader with 31% share, followed by Samsung with 25% share, Oppo & Vivo with 6% share, and Lava with 4% share.
It' surprising to see Lava entering the top five smartphone brands space, which also explains the struggles currently faced by Lenovo & Motorola. Lava's aggressive promoting such as two-years warranty and roping in Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped the homegrown company.
CMR also revealed that Huawei had a marginal presence in India until now, but in Q1 2018, it improved the shipments by double and is now part of top ten smartphone vendors.
In the feature phone segment, Reliance Industries' sub-brand LYF remained a leader with a market share of 34%, followed by Samsung with 10% share, itel with 9% and Lava, Nokia with 7% and 5% share respectively.
On a YoY basis, Indian brands grew by 128%, while Chinese brands grew by 31% further added the report. It will be interesting to see how the Q2 2018 progresses. Xiaomi has been silent so far, but the Chinese company will surely launch a new smartphone next month, possibly the rumoured Redmi S2 and the Mi A2. Samsung, on the other hand, will be bringing the Galaxy A6 and A6+ to the country very soon. Huawei has just launched the P20 Lite and the P20 Pro in the country, but the P20 Pro likely will not make any difference to the company, thanks to the super premium pricing. Honor is planning to launch the Honor 10 in the Indian market, which will replace the Honor View 10 in the country. Lenovo & Motorola should be aggressive in the Indian market to get back into the top five brands. Particularly Motorola should launch its G6 lineup of devices to grab the attention it lost and that too at aggressive prices. We're expecting Asus to break into this list with its affordably priced Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1.
