India Smartphone Shipments Rise in 1Q
Smartphone shipments in India saw a 16.2% y/y increase in 1Q. While India is experiencing a massive COVID-19 outbreak, that spike did not begin until mid-March and did not hit previous peaks (far outstripped currently) until early April, so it would have little effect on smartphone shipments in 1Q.. While Xiaomi (1810.HK) retained its leadership position in the Indian smartphone market, Samsung saw the strongest y/y increase in shipments in 1Q with an increase of 34% y/y. That said, despite the tensions between China and India, Chinese smartphone brands still represented ~70% of shipments into the Indian market, although only Oppo (pvt) saw any substantial shipment increase over last year’s 1Q shipments.
We note that Samsung saw its leadership position drop to 2nd place in 4Q ’20 as Xiaomi pushed its focus up a bit to the premium category in India last year and offered large discounts during the 4Q holiday season, but Samsung’s broad mid-tier offerings seem to be appealing to an increasing number of customers on a regular basis. While not in the top 5, we believe Apple was in 6th place for the 2020 year, with the iPhone SE offering an appealing price point for more budget conscious buyers who still wanted the cache of an Apple product.
We note that Samsung saw its leadership position drop to 2nd place in 4Q ’20 as Xiaomi pushed its focus up a bit to the premium category in India last year and offered large discounts during the 4Q holiday season, but Samsung’s broad mid-tier offerings seem to be appealing to an increasing number of customers on a regular basis. While not in the top 5, we believe Apple was in 6th place for the 2020 year, with the iPhone SE offering an appealing price point for more budget conscious buyers who still wanted the cache of an Apple product.
Aggregate Smartphone Shipments in India - Source: SCMR LLC, various
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