India Smartphone Market: India’s smartphone market sees green shoots, Samsung retains top stop; Vivo replaces Xiaomi for number 2 – Times of India

There’s finally some silver lining for India’s smartphone market. After three consecutive quarters of significant decline, the smartphone market in the country reportedly showed signs of stabilising during the second quarter of the year 2023 (Q2-2023). According to a report by Canalys, India’s smartphone market shipped 36.1 million units and saw a mere 1% decline in shipments in Q2-2023.A moderately favourable business environment helped smartphone brands to improve their inventory levels and the market to grow 18 on a sequential basis.
As for brands, Samsung topped the market with an 18% market share. The company retained its leading position with 6.6 million units shipped. Vivo shipped 6.4 million units to reclaim its second position after one quarter. Xiaomi fell to number 3 spot with 5.4 million units. The company is followed by Realme and Oppo (excluding OnePlus) with 4.3 million and 3.7 million units, respectively, for the fourth and fifth positions.

How smartphone brands are adjusting to India’s business environment
“Smartphone vendors are acclimatising to the dynamic business environment, focusing on ensuring long-term sustainability,” said Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia. He also mentioned that brands are further collaborating with the “Indian channel ecosystem” to cement their position in the market.

He also added that Apple opened a few offline stores in India in April “to address its inventory issues, offer exclusive deals and provide a unique customer experience.” Samsung has also opened up more flagship stores throughout the country, while OnePlus has come up with pop-up stores which has reached multiple cities in tier-1 and tier-2 regions in India, he noted.