Samsung's smartphone market share has been falling in India due to intense competition from Chinese brands like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo. The company lost its number one position to Xiaomi three years ago and in Q1 2020, the company slipped to the number three position, making way for Vivo to grab the second position in the Indian smartphone market.
In Q2 2020, Samsung's market share slipped further to 16.8 percent as the company managed to sell just 2.9 million smartphones. Compared to 7.3 million units in Q2 2019, the South Korean firm managed to sell 60 percent fewer units in the second quarter of this year. Samsung's smartphone market share in India during Q2 2019 was 22.1 percent.
Samsung the only smartphone brand in the top five players with a reduced market share
Xiaomi's shipments fell, too, but it managed to improve its market share from 30.9 percent a year ago to 31.3 percent during Q2 2020. Vivo shipped 3.7 million units and improved its market share from 17.5 percent to 21.3 percent during the same period. OPPO and Realme shipped 2.2 million and 1.7 million smartphone units, respectively, increasing their market shares at the expense of Samsung's.
While the Indian smartphone market shrunk to half during the pandemic, Samsung was the only brand among the top five players to see a decreased market share during Q2 2020. The company's rivals are offering more feature-packed smartphones at lower prices, attracting more consumers. While the South Korean brand has improved its mid-range smartphones, slower Exynos chipsets are not helping its cause.
Samsung India is planning to launch newer Galaxy M series smartphones with more features and lower prices, and the company has a chance to prove itself amid anti-China sentiments. However, it needs to be seen if that helps the company in improving its market share in India.
