“Samsung’s ‘India first’ strategy has yielded fruitful results for the company in the second quarter of 2019”
Samsung lost its top spot to Xiaomi, in terms of smartphone market share in India, early last year. It seems like the South Korean brand is now looking to regain its spot as the market leader, if the latest research from Strategy Analytics is to be believed. The Indian smartphone shipments grew 3 percent annually from 34.5 million in Q2 2018 to 35.6 million units in Q2 2019, as per the new report from the research firm. While Xiaomi retained the lead yet again, the gap between it and Samsung is slowly shrinking. Vivo and OPPO lost market share, while Realme shipments grew in the quarter. Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, attributed the sales growth to discounts offered by online retailers such as Flipkart and Amazon. Xiaomi shipped 10.2 million units, thereby accounting for the same 29 percent market share in Q2 2019. Samsung is recovering slowly, and its market share rose from 23 percent in Q2 2018 to 26 percent in Q2 2019.
Furthermore, Samsung’s ‘India first’ strategy has yielded fruitful results for the company in the second quarter. The Galaxy M and A series are expanding Samsung’s presence in the big online market. Strategy Analytics claims that Samsung will tread on the same path by building more momentum and eventually reclaim the top position in India in the second half of 2019. However, according to Counterpoint Research, Samsung’s market share shrunk YoY in the Indian market. The company had a share of 29 percent in Q2 2018, compared to the 25 percent share in Q2 2019. Both analyses confirm that Samsung is inching closer to Xiaomi, whose growth has stagnated for a while. On the other hand, the collective market share of the Indian smartphone brands in the country now stands at less than 3 per cent.
Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “India smartphone shipments grew 3 percent annually from 34.5 million in Q2 2018 to 35.6 million in Q2 2019. Growth was driven by generous discount schemes promoted by online retailers such as Flipkart. India today remains one of only a handful of growth markets among the global smartphone industry.”