No. 1 no more: Samsung dethroned in fastest-growing smartphone market

What could be better than one research firm revealing that you’re the the top smartphone brand in India, considered the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market? Two market-research companies saying that you’re No. 1.

Canalys and Counterpoint today released their respective data on the Indian market in the last quarter of 2017. Both show the same result: that Xiaomi overtook Samsung to become the country’s leading smartphone vendor.

The two analyst houses had the Chinese company leading by 2 percent. A narrow lead, but a lead nonetheless. It’s nothing short of amazing, especially when you look at Counterpoint’s report. It reveals that in the same period in 2016, Xiaomi only had 9 percent shipment market share. However, from October 2017 to December 2017, its market share jumped to 25 percent.

Xiaomi vs. Samsung: Market share in the 4th quarter of 2017, according to Canalys

Xiaomi vs. Samsung: Market share in the 4th quarter of 2017, according to Counterpoint Research

Counterpoint disclosed that the affordable mid-end segment was the fastest-growing in India last year, driven by Xiaomi’s strong performance in the category. The Chinese vendor alone contributed almost 37 percent of the shipments in the segment.

This was echoed by Canalys, which noted that Samsung’s loss came from its inability to transform its low-cost product portfolio. “It has been unable to win over cost-conscious consumers, losing market share in the sub-₹15,000 (roughly P12,018 or $236) segment to Xiaomi quarter after quarter,” said analyst Rushabh Doshi.

But make no mistake, Samsung is still a force to reckon with. In fact, together, the South Korean company and Xiaomi accounted for about half of smartphone sales in India. How dominant could these two manufacturers get?

The power struggle between Xiaomi and Samsung is expected to continue in 2018, and we can’t wait to see which of them will come out on top in the first quarter of this year.

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Alora Uy Guerrero

Editor-in-chief: Alora Uy Guerrero has 22 years of experience as an editor for print and digital publications such as Yahoo. She took time off journalism to manage OPPO’s digital-marketing campaigns. When not busy with her babies, she’s working on Revü, a passion project — or probably traveling or obsessing over her favorite bands, movies, TV shows, and basketball teams.