Samsung lost its shaky second spot foothold to Vivo in 2020’s first-quarter smartphone shipments to India. The run ahead of Vivo is still slim at only one percent ahead of Samsung.
The Indian smartphone market has always been a dipstick for global smartphone sales performance. The smartphone sales landscape is heating up in the region, and it is not Apple nor Samsung in the lead.
Samsung loses the first spot to Xiaomi in 2017
Back in 2017, Samsung lost to Xiaomi its foothold in the first position of smartphone shipments to India. Xiaomi found the sweet spot among the Indian customers between providing powerful smartphones at very affordable prices.
Samsung is buoyed by its mid-range smartphones making it the number one selling smartphone brand globally. This hasn’t been the case in India where smartphone consumers are more discerning for items that have the best value for money.
Samsung slides down to the third spot against Vivo in Q1 2020
In just three years, Samsung’s pie of the market share has again been reduced by another Chinese competitor in Vivo. In a report by the research company Canalys, Samsung slid back to the third spot losing by a margin of one percent against Vivo.
Xiaomi remains as the strong number one company in terms of smartphone shipments to India. It owns up to 30.6% of the total smartphone shipments to the country, which amounts up to almost 10.3 million units shipped.
Mi fans, https://t.co/D3b3QtmvaT is now operational.
We are slowly getting back on track while taking all precautionary measures issued by the govt.
You can start placing orders now. Shipping starts tomorrow.#StayHomeStaySafe pic.twitter.com/4cxjVPixNz
— Xiaomi India (@XiaomiIndia) April 19, 2020
Vivo follows Xiaomi with 19.9% of the market share or 6.7 million units shipped. Samsung, on the other hand, slides back with just 18.9% of the market share or 6.3 million units shipped.
This is one of the biggest slip of Samsung in the Indian market. They post a -13.7% decrease from their year-on-year shipments versus Q1 of 2019. Vivo, on the other hand, saw its biggest jump with 48.9% growth year-on-year for the same period.
Vivo shipments up because of cricket Twenty20 Cricket League
Vivo was poised to sell big this 2020 because of the sponsorship of the country-wide famous Twenty20 Cricket League. That might not hold true because of the effects of the Coronavirus.
#LoveDistance
While physically we might have become distant, digitally we have been connected throughout the lockdown. We asked you to share unique ways how you have stayed connected, and here's how you responded. #StayHomeStaySafe pic.twitter.com/N0yrXQmvTF— vivo India (@Vivo_India) April 10, 2020
Vivo might have increased its shipment to India, but that may not translate directly to additional sales for the company. India may lift its countrywide lockdown on May 2, but it may also extend until the end of May in particularly crowded cities.
This does not bode well for Vivo as they rely heavily on retail foot traffic to capture the market for sales.
Image courtesy of @Vivo_India/ Twitter