Xiaomi leads India smartphone market in 2018, Samsung second
The QuintNew Delhi, Feb 12 Chinese brand Xiaomi with 28.9 per cent market share led the Indian smartphone market in 2018, followed by South Korean brand Samsung at 22.4 per cent and Vivo at 10 per cent, an International Data Corporation report said on Tuesday. "The premium end of the market outgrew all other price segments in 2018 with 43.9 per cent Year-on-Year growth -- OnePlus emerged as the leader in the price segment range $500-$700 and in the super premium segment and Samsung surpassed Apple for the top position with its Galaxy S9 series," said Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India. According to the report, the online-focused brands drove the online channel share to an all-time high of 38.4 per cent in 2018 and a whopping 42.2 per cent in 2018 Q4 whereas offline channels had a rather muted year with a modest 6.7 per cent annual growth and a 5 per cent sequential growth in Q4. On the other hand, the feature phone market, primarily driven by Jio Phones -- which makes up 56 per cent of the total mobile phone market clocked 181.3 million-unit shipments in 2018, with 10.6 per cent YoY growth, the report said.