According to IDC, Indian smartphone shipments reached 30 million units in Q1 2018 and has seen a healthy 11% YoY growth, but it remained flat when compared to the previous quarter; Q4 2017. As expected Xiaomi retained the top position for the second quarter in a row.
The company has expanded its offline channel and popularity of its models such as Redmi 5A and Redmi Note 5. The Online smartphone segment has seen a growth from 34.2% in Q4 2017 to 36% in Q1 2018. Xiaomi increased its share of total eTailer shipments from 32% a year ago to 53% in Q1 2018.
As for the offline segment, Transsion continued to drive growth through its brands itel and Tecno, thanks to its aggressive expansion to smaller towns & cities by focusing on channel management and after-sales service. The flagship or the high-end segment saw a strong YoY growth of 68% thanks to the Samsung’s Galaxy S9 series which arrived a quarter earlier this year and led with a 77% share in this segment. OnePlus top-end models – 5 and 5T continued to keep more than 50% share. OPPO and Vivo grabbed third and forth spot with 7.4% and 6.4% share, respectively.
On the other hand, 4G feature phone market continued to grow, the segment has seen a more than 50% quarter-on-quarter growth, thanks to Jio Phone, which had 38.4% share. Samsung follows JioPhone with a market share of 10.4%, which is followed by Transsion, Lava, and Micromax.
Commenting on the Indian market growth, Jaipal Singh, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India said:
Xiaomi is in a unique position with a diversified channel approach and strong demand in each of the channels. Huawei’s Honor 9 Lite also made into the top 5 online models in its debut quarter Q1 2018.