China smartphone brands, including Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, continue to lead India smartphone growth in 2021: report
- Chinese brands accounted for four of the top five smartphone brands in India last year, according to Counterpoint
- India’s smartphone market revenue crossed US$38 billion in 2021 with 27 per cent year-over-year growth, according to report
The smartphone market in India achieved record revenue and shipments last year despite constraints in component supplies, with Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi Corp leading the pack, according to a new report by research firm Counterpoint.
Chinese brands accounted for four of the top five smartphone brands in India last year. Xiaomi had a 24 per cent share of total shipments in the country in 2021, followed by Samsung Electronics at 18 per cent, according to the report published this week. China’s Vivo was the third-largest smartphone vendor with a 15 per cent share, followed by Realme and Oppo.
Xiaomi posted 258 per cent growth in the premium smartphone segment, which comprises devices priced above 30,000 Indian rupees (US$400).
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India’s smartphone market revenue crossed US$38 billion in 2021 with 27 per cent year-on-year growth, according to the report. That was helped by various “promotions and discounts, as well as better financing options”, according to Counterpoint.
The strong growth recorded by Chinese smartphone vendors in India comes amid rising tensions between the two countries in recent years. While New Delhi has rolled out a multitude of measures to bolster its home-grown tech industry, Chinese firms were hit by a consumer backlash after several violent border disputes between the two countries. India, however, remains heavily reliant on affordable and well-made consumer technology products supplied by China.
OnePlus, a brand under Oppo, registered its highest ever shipments in India last year, while Oppo spin-off Realme became the fastest growing brand in the country. Compared with 2020, the market share of Xiaomi in India dropped 2 percentage points, but the share of South Korean giant Samsung shrank by 3 percentage points, according to the report.
Xiaomi, which first launched mobile phones in India in 2014, started manufacturing these devices locally in 2015. In February 2021, Xiaomi said that 99 per cent of the smartphones it sold locally were already manufactured in India. Last month, Xiaomi said that it is actively working to localise manufacturing of so-called wearable and hearable devices in India, according to domestic newspaper The Economic Times.
Xiaomi asked by India to pay up in import tax saga
Still, Chinese tech firms remain under scrutiny by Indian authorities. Last month, officials ordered the local unit of Xiaomi to pay 6.5 billion rupees (US$87.80 million) in import taxes after an investigation found that the company had evaded some duties.
India slapped a permanent ban on 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, last January. The apps were initially banned in June 2020 after India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said they were “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the defence of India, and security of the state and public order”.
