After losing its top spot to Xiaomi in 2017, Samsung is now replaced by Vivo as India' second-largest smartphone brand, according to a new report by Counterpoint. Xiaomi continues to lead the Indian smartphone market in Q4 2019 with a market share of 27% and it is now followed by Vivo with a 21% share. Chinese brand Vivo witnessed a whopping 132% Year-on-Year (YoY) growth as it had only 10% share back in Q4 2018. Samsung is now India's third-largest smartphone brand with 19% market share, followed by Oppo with 12% share and Realme with 8% share. As we have reported recently, Realme' sales dipped in Q4 2019, owing to better offline presence for Xiaomi, Vivo and Samsung.
Vivo Secures 21% Market Share in Q4 2019
Vivo has been doubling down its efforts in the Indian smartphone market and it's now evident with the market share it managed to grab in Q4 2019. Vivo entered India back in 2014 and managed to grab a significant presence in the offline market alongside Samsung. In 2019, to compete with the online smartphone models from brands like Xiaomi, Samsung and Realme, the BBK Electronics owned brand launched two different series with impressive specs on board. The Vivo Z and Vivo U series of phones offer better specs at lower prices compared to the Vivo V and Vivo S series of phones.
The Vivo Z1 Pro was India's first phone with Snapdragon 712 chipset and the company promoted the phone by partnering with PUBG Mobile India. During the PUBG Mobile Club Open Spring Split event, the Vivo Z1 Pro was used as the device in LAN event. In the PUBG Mobile Club Open Fall Split, the Vivo Z1x was used as the device to play the game.
The Vivo U series of phones- Vivo U10 and the Vivo U20 are providing decent specs for the asking prices. On the other hand, the company refreshed its Vivo V series twice in 2019; Vivo launched the Vivo V15 Pro earlier in 2019, followed by Vivo V17 Pro at the end of Q3 2019. This strategy allowed Vivo to gain significant market share in 2019.
Xiaomi Continues to Lead Indian Smartphone Market
For more than two years now, Xiaomi is leading the Indian smartphone market and that too with a market share of over 25%. In Q4 2019, Xiaomi secured 27% share with 7% YoY growth in terms of shipments. Xiaomi launched several smartphones in 2019 and the most notable ones being the Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 8 Pro and the Redmi K20 series. Xiaomi even refreshed its Redmi A series twice in just four months to stay in-line with the competition.
Moving onto Samsung, the South Korean smartphone company took the Indian market seriously in 2019, yet it lost the second spot to Vivo. Samsung introduced the Galaxy M series to take on the budget and mid-range devices from Chinese brands. It even revamped the Galaxy A series and made it more competitive. In fact, the Galaxy A50 was amongst the best-selling model in a single quarter in 2019. Samsung managed to grab 19% market share in Q4 2019, according to Counterpoint.
Oppo and Realme are the fourth and fifth largest brands in India. Realme is termed as the fastest growing brand in 2019, followed by Vivo. Realme is launching way too many smartphones with negligible differences which is not going well with the consumers. It will be interesting to see how Realme tackles Xiaomi and even Vivo in 2020.
