India’s smartphone shipments grew 82 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to reach over 33 million units in the second quarter of 2021 with Chinese brands holding a 79 per cent share, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service.

The market, however, declined 14 per cent sequentially due to the impact of the second wave of Covid-19, though not as badly as expected.

“Smartphone shipments witnessed low volumes during April and May. However, the market saw a pent-up demand in June as restrictions were lifted and stores started to reopen,” said Senior Research Analyst Prachir Singh. “Offline-centric brands were more affected during April and May as consumers were preferring online channels for purchases. Brands like Xiaomi and Realme were able to maintain high volumes leveraging their better online reach. Due to the multiple use-cases and functionalities, the smartphone has become an integral part of daily life and a necessity. The pent-up demand witnessed in June is a testament to that,” added Singh.

Top players

As for the top players in the smartphone market, Xiaomi was leading with a 28.4 per cent market share, followed by Samsung with 17.7 per cent, Vivo was third with 15.1 per cent, Realme with 14.6 per cent and Oppo with 10.4 per cent.

Research Analyst Monika Sharma said: “Chinese brands held a 79 per cent share”. This was from 75 per cent in Q1 2021, ended March. “The Redmi 9 series, as well as the Redmi Note 10 series, drove the shipments for Xiaomi while online-heavy Galaxy M-series and F-series drove the shipments for Samsung,” said Sharma.

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