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On April 22, the market statistics agency Canalys released the first quarter of 2022 Indian smartphone shipments rankings, Xiaomi ranked first with 8 million units of shipments, with a market share of 21% in India; Samsung ranked second with 6.9 million shipments, and its market share in India reached 18%; realme ranked third with 6 million shipments, and the Indian market share reached 16%.
Looking at the Indian smartphone market as a whole, it has only grown by 2% compared to last year. Analyst Sayam Chaurasia said that for a market like India, the just 2% growth in Q1 this year is not a good start compared to the previous double-digit percentage growth.
First, Xiaomi realme ranks one or three, and "Others" are quietly rising
In Canalys' "India Smartphone Shipment Ranking Report for the First Quarter of 2022", major mobile phone brands shipped a total of 38 million smartphones, an increase of 2% over 2021.
Among them, in addition to the top three Xiaomi, Samsung and realme, the fourth and fifth places are vivo and OPPO, with shipments of 5.7 million and 4.6 million units, respectively, and a market share of 15% and 12%.
Canalys released its ranking of Smartphone shipments in India for the first quarter of 2022
Although Xiaomi still ranks first in the Indian market shipments this year, it still shows a downward trend compared with last year. Q1 of 2021, Xiaomi's shipments in the Indian market are 10.5 million units, the market share is 28%, so in comparison, this year's Q1 Xiaomi shipments fell by nearly 23%, the market share fell by 7%, the annual growth rate fell by 24%, the data xiaomi shipments are the most, but the annual growth rate is also the most seriously reduced.
In contrast, the third place realme, in 2021 Q1 shipments in the Indian market of 4.3 million units, the market share of 12%, compared with this year's shipments increased by 39.5%, market share increased by 4%, the annual growth rate reached 40%, the highest growth rate of the single brand in the ranking.
At the same time, the annual growth rate of "Others" in the data is even more eye-catching, reaching 103%, which is very different from the common situation of "the annual growth rate of giants is getting higher and higher, and the others market is getting less and less" in the oligopolistic market in the past, so it seems that Indian local brands still have a certain competitiveness in the local market.
Second, the Indian market as a whole ushered in a decline, and supply chain instability became a trigger
Although the report shows that the entire Indian market is still experiencing 2% growth compared with Q1 of 21, Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia believes that this is not good news, because even in the worst period of the epidemic in India, india's smartphone market is still able to usher in double-digit percentage growth.
▲ Canalys released 2020 Q1-2022 Q1 Indian smartphone market changes
As for the reasons for the decline in the growth rate of Q1 this year, Sanyam Chaurasia believes: "Although the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in the first quarter affected most countries and markets in the world, the impact of the epidemic on India is small, so the Indian market should be able to recover quickly from it." However, for the mobile phone brands such as Xiaomi and vivo, because their supply chains are affected by this wave of the epidemic, there are often intermittent supply problems, so it affects the production of low-end models of these brands, and these low-end models just account for the majority of sales. In contrast, brands such as Realme, Tecno and Itel, which rely more on India's local supply chain, have performed well and have been able to compete with the top brands in the Indian market in the first quarter to meet the needs of the low-end market. ”
Regarding the future performance of the Indian smartphone market, Sanyam Chaurasia believes: "Starting from March, the shipments and market share of each brand will pick up, because suppliers are trying their best to solve the problem of the supply chain affected by the epidemic." And mobile phone brands are preparing for the season, trying to find sales opportunities in cities and towns with low device coverage, because for mobile phone brands, the strategy of long-term focus on building offline channels is very important. Based on these conditions, various mobile phone sales channels are also optimistic about the performance of the Indian smartphone market in the second quarter and predict that Q2 performance will be quite strong. ”
At the same time, Sanyam Chaurasia also pointed out the problems that these mobile phone manufacturers in the Indian market will face: "The biggest challenge facing Indian smartphone manufacturers is how to control the terminal price within the acceptable range of consumers, reduce their own costs and obtain profits." With Indian oil prices currently at an all-time high and inflation at 14.6%, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and increased operating costs due to inflation will in turn put pressure on mobile phone brands to make profits. ”
Finally, Sayam Chaurasia believes that with the rising demand for smartphones by Indian consumers, it is very easy to attract consumers through the sales method of "first use and pay later", and there are many such cases in the entire market, and the mass market will still be the growth momentum of the Indian smartphone market.
Conclusion: The low-end market is still the main force in India, and the advantages of the local supply chain are prominent
The wave of epidemic counterattack at the beginning of the year has had an impact on the Indian mobile phone market, but the reason for the decline in shipments of non-local brands such as Xiaomi and vivo is because the epidemic has affected the supply stability of the supply chain, and the importance of supply chain decentralization has been further enhanced.
At the same time, with preferential prices, diverse promotional methods and stable supply chains, Indian local brands have achieved an overtake of the annual growth rate of foreign brands in the case of the Q1 epidemic. In the Indian market, the competition between local brands and foreign brands is still fierce, and it is clear that in the first quarter of 2022, the advantages of "stability" of India's local supply chain have begun to stand out.
Source: Canalys