IDC: vivo and Oppo are squeezing Samsung out of India

Samsung isn’t doing very well in India, to put it lightly. The company that was once No.1 in the smartphone market over there has now dropped to third, according to a new IDC report talking about the third quarter of this year (July to September).

vivo rules the Indian market with 15.8% market share and 20% growth compared to Q3 2023, followed by Oppo with 13.9% market share and a whopping 47.6% growth compared to the year-ago quarter.

Samsung only managed 12.3% of the pie, going down 19.7% – and that’s the second biggest drop in the top ten, only outdone by OnePlus which is in tenth and saw its shipments dropping 39.3%.

Realme is in fourth with 11.5% of the pie dropping almost as much as Samsung at 19.4%, Xiaomi has an almost identical share as last year at 11.4% with shipments only growing 2.7%, while Apple managed to grow 58.5% to a market share of 8.6%, posting its biggest quarterly shipment in India ever, at 4 million units.

Like Xiaomi, Poco grew but only a little bit (6.5% for a 5.8% market share), while Motorola had the most impressive growth of the bunch: 149.5%, now reaching eighth place with 5.7% of the market. Similarly commendable is iQOO’s performance, growing 101.4% compared to Q3 2023 to now take 4.2% of the pie.

Why iQOO isn’t counted together with vivo, Realme and OnePlus together with Oppo, and Poco together with Xiaomi (especially since Redmi definitely seems to be) we’ll never know. Let’s just assume it has to do with the sub-brands’ spurious independence claims.

But the point here is that had they been counted together with the ‘motherships’, vivo and Oppo would have an even bigger lead over Samsung – with Oppo actually in first with 29% of the market, and vivo in second with 20%. And Xiaomi would be in third with 17.2%.

The overall Indian smartphone market grew for the fifth consecutive quarter in Q3, reaching 46 million units, reflecting 5.6% year-over-year growth. Of those, 38 million were 5G capable devices. The average selling price was $258, up 0.9% YoY and 3.8% compared to Q2. In the $200-$400 segment Oppo gained the most while Samsung and vivo lost share, the three of them together making up 53% of this part of the pie.

The $600 to $800 segment grew the most at 86%, reaching 4% of the overall market compared to 2% a year ago. Apple dominates this part of the pie with 71% share, while Samsung is currently at 19%, down from 30% a year ago.

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