Xiaomi usurps Samsung to become top smartphone seller in India

Samsung Electro-Mechanics

24/01/2018 20:24

By Sankalp Phartiyal 
    MUMBAI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  
has lost its crown as the top smartphone seller in India for the 
first time in six years, as it was outsold by China's Xiaomi in 
the final quarter of 2017, data from two tech research firms 
shows. 
    Xiaomi's aggressively priced suite of high-spec handsets  
and market expansion strategy enabled it to take the top spot in 
the world's biggest smartphone market after China, said Tarun 
Pathak of Counterpoint Research. 
    The Chinese company, which is exploring a public listing and 
is now valued at close to $100 billion, entered India just over 
three years ago.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1PD5FM 
    Its strategy there has so far rested on flash sales on 
leading homegrown e-commerce player Flipkart and U.S. tech giant 
Amazon.com's  AMZN.O  Indian site, an approach that helped it 
snatch market share without have to spend heavily on marketing.  
    Counterpoint pegged Xiaomi's smartphone market share in 
India at 25 percent in the fourth quarter based on shipments, 
ahead of Samsung's 23 percent. Lenovo  0992.HK , Oppo and Vivo 
came in behind them, each with about 6 percent market share. 
    However, it ranked Samsung as the top seller for the year as 
the South Korean company was well ahead of Xiaomi in the first 
half of 2017.  
    Separately, research firm Canalys said Xiaomi shipped 8.2 
million smartphones in the fourth quarter, while Samsung shipped 
7.3 million.  
    "Multiple factors have contributed to Xiaomi's growth, but 
the key reason for its current success lies in the autonomy that 
it granted its Indian unit, letting it run the business 
locally," said Canalys analyst Ishan Dutt. 
    Canalys estimates Xiaomi has 27 percent of the Indian market 
while Samsung is on 25 percent. 
    "Samsung's loss comes from its inability to transform its 
low-cost product portfolio," said Rushabh Doshi of Canalys. 
    The South Korean company has been unable to win over 
cost-conscious buyers, thereby losing market share in the 
sub-15,000 rupee ($235) segment to Xiaomi quarter after quarter, 
he said. 
    Samsung said in a statement that it led Indian smartphone 
sales in the September to November period, based on data by 
research firm GfK. 
    Xiaomi could not immediately be reached for comment. 
 
 (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Writing by Euan Rocha; Editing 
by Susan Fenton) 
 ((euan.rocha@tr.com; +91 22 6180 7257; Reuters Messaging: 
euan.rocha.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: INDIA SMARTPHONES/