Not iPhone, Chinese smartphones sell most in India; Apple not even in top 5

More than half of the Indian smartphone sales are dominated by Chinese retailers with Xiaomi as the market leader. Out of the top five smartphones sellers in the country, four are Chinese firms — Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Realme — and Korean Samsung has about one-fourth of the market share. On the other hand, America’s iPhone, along with some other sellers, contributes to only 14% of smartphone sales, according to recent data by market intelligence firm IDC. India is one of the largest selling smartphone countries in the world and while other industries are reeling under the effect of slowdown, smartphones sales soared by 10% on-year, according to the IDC report. About 70 million mobile phones were shipped to the country during the April-June period alone.

With every six out of ten mobile phones that are sold in the country coming from China, it is evident that something is working for the Chinese companies that the other manufacturers are yet to crack. About 80% of the smartphone sales in India are for those mobile phones which are priced below Rs 14,000. Demand is led by consumers who want to upgrade their handsets and the “China-based brands are bringing innovations and flagship like design language at mid-price segments,” IDC said.