Samsung reclaims top slot from Xiaomi - Times of India

NEW DELHI: Two years after losing the top smartphone maker crown to Xiaomi in India, Samsung has regained the top billing in the lucrative category, gathering a share of 24% in the third quarter, marginally higher than the Chinese rival’s 23%. Xiaomi’s share has come down from 26% in the third quarter of 2019, and the decline for the company comes at a time when there are heightened tensions between India and China, and movement of parts and component supplies had been impacted.
According to numbers released by tracking agency Counterpoint, Xiaomi had moved past Samsung exactly two years ago during the same quarter when the Chinese juggernaut had started gaining ground in India. Xiaomi and other Chinese makers such as Vivo, Oppo, and the latest entrant Realme have been aggressively launching new phones in India over the past few years, making heavy investments on sales and marketing, and pricing them competitively. Counterpoint noted that a negative consumer sentiment against China may have fuelled the trend.
Shilpi Jain, a research analyst at the company said, “However, these sentiments have subsided as consumers are weighing in different parameters during the purchase as well.”

Counterpoint said Xiaomi’s fall to the number two position — for the first time since Q3 2018 — could also be due to “manufacturing constraints” due to Covid-19 situation where supply chain have been affected. However, it said that Xiaomi could come back strongly in the current quarter.
Samsung has been making the most of the current circumstances, and is also busy with new launches. The company’s M- and A-Series line-ups have been volume grossers, and so it has a strong online strategy. “The online business for Samsung has been growing strongly, and we have seen the contribution of online sales to overall smartphone volumes double to 30% from 15% recorded earlier,” Asim Warsi, senior VP at Samsung India, told TOI.