The India smartphone shipments rebounded, and reached highest-ever levels with 14 per cent YoY in Q3 2020, according to the latest research from CMR Mobile Handset Market Review Report for Q3 2020. Samsung dethroned Xiaomi and emerged as the No.1 Smartphone brand, and No. 1 Mobile Brand.
The smartphone market grew on the back of attractive pre-festive season launches, aggressive marketing, and attractive promotions and discounts by all the leading smartphone brands in the run-up to the all-important festive season.
“During Q3 2020, the eCommerce Platforms increased their reach across India, by tying up with local stores. Consumers from Aspirational India, including Tier-II and Tier-III cities and towns, including first-time e-commerce shoppers, looked at shopping online, aided by the option to shop in vernacular languages. We anticipate online to drive 70 per cent of the overall sales this festive season,” added Shipra Sinha, Analyst-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR.
The 5G smartphone segment grew significantly from a small base, by almost 500 per cent QoQ with the launch of OnePlus Nord.
Feature Phone Segment
While the smartphone market registered double-digit growth YoY, the overall feature phone grew marginally by 2 per cent YoY. This is primarily because consumers at the bottom of the pyramid continue to be sharply affected by the pandemic.
Q3 2020 Key Market Highlights
Samsung dethroned Xiaomi capturing the top spot with 18 per cent YoY growth in its smartphone shipments. Samsung’s affordable smartphone shipments grew by 38 per cent YoY, including significant shipments for Galaxy M01 Core and M31. Samsung Galaxy M01, A21S and M30s models contributed almost 60 per cent of its overall shipments.
Xiaomi dropped down to the second position with its shipments declining by 5 per cent YoY on account of COVID-19 restrictions and supply chain issues. Many new models including Redmi 9i, 9A, 9 Prime. Redmi 8A Dual, Redmi 8 and Redmi Note 9 were launched which contributed to almost half of its overall shipments.
Poco launched Poco M2, Poco M2 Pro and X3. With the launch of its budget phone, Poco C3 in Q4, Poco will aim to capture a significant market share.
Vivo stood at the 3rd position, its shipments grew by 7 per cent YoY driven by its V and Y series. However, its QoQ share was flat at 16 per cent. The vivo Y91i, Y30 along with newly released vivo Y20 series contributed to more 50 per cent of its overall shipments.
realme shipments grew by 13 per cent YoY mostly driven by the realme C series, including the realme C11, realme C6, realme 5i and realme C3, along with newly launched Realme 7 contributing 50 per cent of its sales. It also launched a plethora of new budget offerings Narzo 20 series and 7 series.
OPPO grew 31 per cent YoY. It launched A52 targeted for Value for Money segments alongside its budget models A11K and A12. In the premium segment, OPPO achieved a YoY growth of 135 per cent on the back of Reno series.
OnePlus grew at 104 per cent YoY. During Q3, it introduced its affordable 5G smartphones in Q3, with the OnePlus Nord series doing phenomenally well. Alongside, the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro accounted for 16 per cent of its Q3 shipments. OnePlus contributed three-fourths of all 5G shipments in Q3 2020.
Apple shipments grew remarkably by 67 per cent YoY. It saw its highest quarterly shipments and captured 7th position in the top ten leaderboards on the back of the good demand for iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone 11. Both the models together contributed 91 per cent of its shipments in Q3 2020. On the heels of the iPhone 12 launch, Apple is on track to have its best year yet.
Transsion Group brands (Itel, Infinix and Tecno) grew 34 per cent YoY with Infinix registering 354 per cent YoY growth with the successful launch of its new models, namely, Smart 4 Plus and Hot 10. Tecno grew 95 per cent YoY with new model launches like Spark Go 2020, catering to the affordable segment. Transsion made a lot of inroads in Tier II and Tier III cities. itel grew 143 per cent in Smartphone segment and 5 per cent in a feature phone. itel ranked No1 in Feature Phone segment.
Among niche brands, LG shipments recorded a significant 81 per cent YoY growth. In the 2G feature phone segment, Nokia grew by 47 per cent and Lava recorded a 34 per cent YoY growth. Cellecor feature phone shipments recorded a significant 384 per cent YoY growth, growing from a small base.