Despite the lethal second Covid wave, the smartphone shipments in India grew 82 percent (on-year) to reach over 33 million units in the April-June quarter, a new report showed on Wednesday.
The market declined 14 percent sequentially due to a fall in consumer sentiment during the second Covid wave. Still, the decline was less than expected due to the resilient nature of the smartphone market, according to Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor service.
Xiaomi (including the POCO brand) once again led the market with a 28 percent shipment share. The brand registered its highest-ever ASP (average selling price) in a single quarter due to the strong performance of the Mi 11 series.
Samsung captured the second spot with an 18 percent share, while Vivo captured the third spot with a 15 percent share.
realme became the fastest brand to reach 50 million cumulative smartphone shipments in India.
Smartphone shipments witnessed low volumes during April and May.
“However, the market saw a pent-up demand in June as restrictions were lifted and stores started to reopen. Offline-centric brands were more affected during April and May as consumers were preferring online channels for purchases,” said senior research analyst Prachir Singh.
Brands like Xiaomi and realme were able to maintain high volumes leveraging their better online reach, he added.
OnePlus grew more than 200 percent (YoY) in Q2 2021, driven by the OnePlus 9 Series. The brand led the premium market with a 34 percent share.
“Chinese brands held a 79 percent share (in Q2). The share of 5G smartphones is constantly increasing, crossing 14 percent in the June-ended quarter. realme was the top 5G smartphone brand with a 23 percent share, followed by OnePlus,” said research analyst Monika Sharma.
