Samsung Tops India’s Smartphone Market In Q4 2022, Xiaomi Drops Down After Years

Last Updated: January 19, 2023, 19:17 IST

Samsung is back at the top in India

Samsung has been battling in the market to regain its position at the top and it seems the latest efforts have worked in its favour.

Xiaomi has dropped down the charts in India, which is the first after many years in the Indian smartphone market. Samsung and Vivo have usurped the Chinese brand with the South Korean giant back at the top of the list, while Vivo taking a surprising second position.

The new data has been presented by Canalys for Q4 2022 confirms that Samsung has managed this feat for the first time since Q3 2017 which is a really long time away from the leadership position in one of the most important countries for the company. “After 20 quarters, Xiaomi lost its leadership position in Q4 2022 and fell to third place with shipments of 5.5 million units,” the report mentions.

The change has come at the expense of Xiaomi dropping down to number three, giving Vivo the room to surpass and take advantage of challenging market conditions in the past few quarters. Having said that, the same report does credit Xiaomi for being the number one vendor for the full year 2022 but the gap is clearly narrowing, giving more reasons for Xiaomi to be concerned about in the next year or so.

Samsung vs Xiaomi – How Things Changed

Samsung has expanded its product lineup, widening its portfolio with a mix of affordable and mid-range devices that is still the sweet price point for buyers in India. In addition to this, Xiaomi faced issues clearing out its older stock during the festive season sales in 2022 and that forced the company to limit its new launches.

Meanwhile, Vivo’s growth has been catapulted by its focus on the offline market in tier-three and four cities, where the smartphone penetration is untapped and buyers prefer the touch-and-feel experience to buy phones, even in this era. Samsung benefited from its dual-retail approach, and its extensive retail network, coupled with a wide range of products has seemingly worked in its favour in the last quarter. As per the report, the current list of brands notes:

– Samsung

– Vivo

– Xiaomi

– Oppo

– Realme

– Others

Xiaomi has already started 2023 with a bang, launching its new Redmi Note 12 series in the country and many more are expected to be added in the coming months. It remains to be seen if these brands make any broader changes to see their positions change in the next few quarters.

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S Aadeetya

S Aadeetya, Special Correspondent at News18 Tech, stumbled his way into journalism 10 years ago, and since then, has been part of established media ho…Read More