Market intelligence firm IDC recently shared some data regarding the Indian smartphone market in Q4, 2019. As per the data, both Xiaomi and Samsung saw significant growth in market share in the quarter, while Realme's share declined. Additionally, the data also revealed that Chinese OEM Vivo also managed to revive its overall market share in November, bringing it up to 16.92% from 14.31% in September 2019. Now, a separate report from Counterpoint Research claims that Vivo overtook Samsung to become the second-largest OEM, in terms of market share, in Q4 2019.
As per Counterpoint's Q4 2019 Market Monitor report, Vivo saw a 76% YoY growth in 2019 and 132% YoY in just Q4 2019. The company's growth was a direct result of the success of its budget lineup of devices, the aggressive positioning of the Vivo S series, and its increasing presence online. Due to these factors, Vivo captured the second pot in India's smartphone market for the first time ever.
Along with Vivo's tremendous growth, the Indian market itself saw an overall growth of 7% YoY thanks to the expansion of Chinese brands and their aggressive pricing strategies. The growth resulted in the Indian smartphone market surpassing the USA for the first time on an annual level, becoming the second-largest smartphone market globally with 158 million shipments in 2019.
Xiaomi also grew 7% YoY in Q4 2019 and 5% YoY in 2019, with its growth primarily driven by its aggressive offline expansion strategy. On the contrary, Korean giant Samsung's shipments remained almost flat in Q4 2019, while the company posted a 5% decline in 2019 as a whole. Vivo's sister company OPPO also saw significant growth, with shipments almost doubled YoY in Q4 2019. While Vivo's growth is definitely impressive, OPPO's former sub-brand Realme easily overshadows the company posting a 255% growth in 2019.
Source: Counterpoint Reasearch