Korean conglomerate Samsung maintained its lead with 25 percent market share followed by Xiaomi, which cemented its second position by shipping 4.8 million units, which is a 4X year on year growth. It is worth noting that Xiaomi’s market share increased from 14% in Q1 2017 to 18% in Q2 2017. Expanding its presence to offline markets coupled with the success of Redmi Note 4, Redmi 4A, and Redmi 4 bolstered its shipments. Vivo secured the third spot by shipping an all time high of 3.4 million units, thanks to aggressive marketing. OPPO surpassed Lenovo by grabbing the fourth position. Lenovo finished at the fifth spot by shipping 1.9 million units. Sales of Indian smartphone manufacturers have been taking a hit due to the foray of Chinese OEMs into the Indian smartphone market. As a fallout, none of the Indian smartphone vendors could make it to the top 5. On the other hand, Chinese smartphone market has also shrunk by 3%. Huawei holds onto its first position by shipping 23 million units followed by OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Interestingly, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi are locking their horns in both the markets trying to outwit each other. While Xiaomi has a stranglehold on the online market, OPPO and Vivo are betting high on offline channels with out of the bound advertising. Ishan Dutt, Canalys Research Analyst, said: “With China suffering its own decline this quarter, India is a market of huge strategic importance to Chinese smartphone vendors.” It will difficult for Indian smartphone manufacturers to turn around their fortunes from their current abysmal state. Nevertheless, we will have to wait and see if they have any tricks under their sleeves to counter Chinese vendors.
