NEW DELHI: The market share of Chinese players in the Indian smartphone market has fallen by 9 per cent in just three months because of supply chain constraints and growing anti-China sentiment, said a report. A Counterpoint Research report released on Friday notes that Chinese smartphone brands saw their market share in India fall to 72 per cent in June quarter (Q2) from 81 per cent in March quarter (Q1).
Major players such as Oppo, Vivo and Realme saw their share decline in Q2, while Korean tech giant Samsung saw its market go up from 16 per cent in Q1 to 26 per cent in Q2. Shilpi Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, “The contribution of Chinese brands fell to 72% in Q2 2020 from 81% in Q1 2020. This was mainly due to the mixture of stuttering supply for some major Chinese brands such as OPPO, Vivo and Realme, and growing anti-China sentiment that was compounded by stringent actions taken by the government to ban more than 50 apps of Chinese origin and delay the import of goods from China amid extra scrutiny. This all resulted from the India-China border dispute during June.”
Going ahead, Chinese brands are likely to face additional hardships in the Indian market as Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio is entering into the smartphone market with leading tech giant Google. The duo will make affordable 4G or even 5G android smartphones in India. Counterpoint also sees an opportunity for local brands such as Micromax and Lava, along with Samsung, to recapture market share. However, at present, value-for-money offerings and strong channel entrenchment by Chinese brands leave very few options for consumers to choose from, Jain said. Xiaomi continued to lead the Indian smartphone market in Q2 2020 with 29 per cent market share while other Chinese brand OnePlus regained its top position in the premium market (>INR 30,000 ).
India's smartphone shipments declined by 51 per cent year-on-year to just over 18 million units in the June quarter, impacted by the nationwide lockdown imposed by the Indian government to combat COVID-19 in April and May, said Counterpoint. In June 2020, shipments improved and registered a mild decline of 0.3 per cent YoY, thanks to the pent-up demand as well as a push from brands.