Xiaomi leads smartphone shipments to India despite 25% year-on-year drop: IDC

Smartphone shipments in India fell more than 27% to 29.6 million in the October-December 2022 quarter from 40.6 million in the previous year, mainly due to inflationary pressures, market research firm IDC said on Friday. .

According to the report, the reduction in consumer demand due to high inflation remained a problem throughout the year, despite the improvement in the supply situation.

Sub-$300 (around Rs. 25,000) smartphone shipments are down 15 percent, while mid-range and premium $300-$500 and above $500 (Rs. 41,000) price segments are up 20 percent. and 55 percent, respectively. during 2022.

Entry-level smartphones costing less than Rs. 12,500 apiece, down to 46 percent from 54 percent a year ago.

IDC India, Upasan Joshi’s client device research manager, said the lack of new launches in the sub-$150 (around Rs. 12,000) smartphone segment is limiting its growth.

Rising prices and excess inventory are expected to be a concern for at least the first half of this year, Navkendar Singh, assistant vice president for device research at IDC, said.

“We should expect a rather difficult and lengthy recovery in the smartphone market, as concerns about rising prices and excess inventory will remain a problem through at least the first half of 2023.

“Suppliers and trading partners need to rethink their plans for their entry-level portfolios, increasing the affordability of 5G devices through attractive exchange programs and funding schemes,” Singh said.

Xiaomi led the market during the quarter as well as year on year with market shares of 18.6% and 21% despite a huge year-over-year (YoY) drop in shipments.

Xiaomi shipments were down 38.3% in the December 2022 quarter and 25% year-on-year in 2022.

Apple retained its lead in the premium segment with a 60% share, followed by Samsung with a 21% share.

Samsung smartphone shipments decreased by 22.6% in December 2022 and by 6.6% during the year.

Samsung was the second largest player during the quarter and also during the year with 18.4% and 18.1% shares, respectively, in terms of smartphone shipments.

Overall, 201 million mobile phones were shipped in 2022, down 12 percent year on year.

“Feature phone shipments totaled 57 million units, down 18 percent from the previous year. Samsung, Xiaomi and Transsion were the leading companies in the mobile phone market as a whole,” the report says.