Mobiles sales have boomed in India despite the ongoing slowdown in the retail channel. Over 4.5 crore handsets were shipped in July to September quarter alone, recording about 10% on-year growth and a quarter growth by 26.5%, latest data by the International Data Corporation (IDC) showed. However, Realme sales witnessed over 400% jump on-year. While still behind several brands such as Xiaomi, Samsung and Vivo, China-based mobile maker Realme’s shipments grew multifold, “driven by heavy shipments of its affordable C2 model and its newly launched 5 and 3i series,” IDC said. In the online segment, Realme’s share was at an all-time high of 26.5% in the third quarter of the current year.
Festive sales bring cheers
The increase in phone shopping this year was led by various sales on e-commerce platforms such as Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. Also, “new model launches, and price corrections on a few key models by various brands,” spurred sales as well, IDC said in the statement. This year, easier availability of credit and EMI options levered sales for “The continued aggression by the online platforms with attractive cashback and buyback offers as well as affordability schemes like No Cost EMIs and financing options were key in taking the share of the online channel to a record high of 45.4% with on-year growth of 28.3%,” Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said.
Most selling five brands in India
Four Chinese brands viz Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO and Realme continued to dominate sales in India. While Xiaomi still leads the pack with about 40% share of the online channel, other brands are also inching closer and gaining market share. For example, Vivo reported over 58% on-year growth owing to affordable Y series phones. On the other hand, South Korean mobile maker
Samsung witnessed a drop in on-year sales. “However, newly launched Galaxy M30s registered strong shipments in its opening quarter,” IDC said.
Also, for premium phones (selling for over $500), US-based Apple alone had half the market in the third quarter of 2019. Backed by affordability offers and price drops on previous-generation models like the iPhone XR, Apple enjoyed good sales.
Going ahead, smartphone market is expected to see only mid-to-high single-digit on-year growth in 2019 due to “strong undercurrent of passive consumer sentiment and muted shipments in the last quarter of the year due to a record 3Q19 when channel stock levels went up,” Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices & IPDS, IDC India, said.
