Samsung beats Xiaomi in India

Earlier this week, research firm Canalys published an article showing the changes that reshaped the Indian smartphone market in the last year. With a 20% YoY growth in the final quarter, the world's second smartphone market (an estimated 493 million units in use in 2021, after China's stellar 954 million and the 274 million smartphones estimated to have been used in the United States during the same year, according to Statista) also witnessed two drops of over 10% by Xiaomi and Realme.

While highlighting the need to manage the rising costs, Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia says that the firm "expects the Indian smartphone market to grow by mid-single digits in 2024, driven by affordable 5G and the pandemic period replacement cycle." During 2023, the 148.6 million units sold in India were not enough to ensure a growth, despite the massive Q4 jump mentioned earlier. However, the 2% drop can't be considered a disaster, either.

Looking at the final quarter of 2023 alongside the entire year's performance, the figures look like this:

• Samsung: 7.6 million, 28.4 million
• Xiaomi: 7.2 million, 25.1 million
• Vivo: 7.0 million, 26.1 million
• Realme: 4.5 million, 17.4 million

The numbers above translate to quarterly growth values of 14%, 31%, 10%, and even a whopping 69%, but the yearly figures paint a different picture: 1% drop for Samsung, 3% growth for Vivo, 15% fall for Xiaomi, and a 16% descent for Realme. Everything can change this year, since the rounded market share figures for 2023's most popular smartphone brands in India are almost tied: 19%, 18%, and 17%. Last but not the least, it is also worth mentioning that Apple didn't make it in the top 5, remaining in the "Others" category. On the bright side, the iPhone 15 is quite popular in India as well and can be currently acquired from Amazon for ₹102,999 (6% off, down from ₹109,900), a price valid for all color choices of the 512 GB model.