Despite Boycott China Call, 3 In 4 Smartphones Shipped To India Were Chinese In Q2: Report

Even though a passionate anti-China sentiment rose in India due to the border conflict between both countries, looks like the domination of Chinese smartphones continues.

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New Delhi: Despite the supply chain issues and curtailed domestic production owing to lockdowns, almost three in four smartphones shipped in India during the June quarter were Chinese, a new report said on Thursday.  An immediate beneficiary of the challenges facing the Chinese smartphone brands was Samsung which had an efficient supply chain in place, according to CMR's 'India Mobile Handset Market Review'. With a resilient supply chain, Samsung was able to arrest its declining market share and improve upon its market share to 24 per cent in Q2. "It remains to be seen if Samsung is able to maintain its market performance in the coming quarters, garner consumer demand, and compete against, and challenge the dominance of Chinese smartphone brands," explained Amit Sharma, Manager-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR. The third quarter will be the real test to demonstrate whether Samsung's demand side is gaining momentum. During the Q2, the cumulative market share of Chinese smartphone brands dipped to 73 per cent which is akin to the levels last seen in Q3 2019. The total smartphone shipments in India in the June quarter declined by a whopping 41 per cent (quarter-on-quarter) and 48 per cent (year-on-year) owing to the nationwide lockdown. Xiaomi (30 per cent), Samsung (24 per cent) and Vivo (17 per cent) rounded off the top three spots. While Nokia smartphone share declined, Apple held onto the eighth position in the top 10 smartphone leaderboard, on the back of good demand for iPhone SE (2020), according to the report. Xiaomi's Redmi 8A Dual, Redmi 8 and Redmi Note 8 together contributed to more than 60 per cent of its overall shipments. For Samsung, Galaxy M11, A21S and A31 contributed to almost 50 per cent of its overall shipments. Vivo's eV' and eY' series were the most popular. The Y17 and Y91i along with newly released Y50 contributed to more than 55 per cent of its overall shipments. For Realme, C2, C3, 5i and the newly launched Narzo series contributed to three-fourth of realme shipments. OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro contributed to one-third of its Q2 shipments and three fourth of all 5G shipments in Q2, said the report.