Chinese smartphones’ market share Slipped to 72% in India in June quarter

Chinese smartphone brands saw their market share in India fall to 72 per cent in June quarter from 81 per cent in the preceding three months due to COVID-19 supply chain disruption and growing anti-China sentiment, Counterpoint Research said on Friday. Chinese brands such as Oppo, Vivo and Realme had a commanding market share in the world’s fastest growing smartphone market but their share declined during April-June, Counterpoint said in a report.

India’s smartphone shipments declined by 51 per cent year-on-year to just over 18 million units in the June quarter, impacted by the nationwide lockdown imposed by the Indian government to combat COVID-19 in April and May, Counterpoint said.

Shilpi Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research, said the contribution of Chinese brands fell to 72 per cent in June quarter from 81 per cent in March 2020 quarter.

“This was mainly due to the mixture of stuttering supply for some major Chinese brands such as Oppo, Vivo and Realme, and growing anti-China sentiment that was compounded by stringent actions taken by the government to ban more than 50 apps of Chinese origin and delay the import of goods from China amid extra scrutiny. This all resulted from the India-China border dispute during June,” she said.

However, local manufacturing, R&D operations, attractive value-for-money offerings and strong channel entrenchment by Chinese brands leaves very few options for consumers to choose from, she said.

It should be noted that Apple Inc whose supply chain is heavily dependent on China has over the past years begun to move production of a number of its models to India and Vietnam is a bid to reduce its reliance of China and diversify its supply chain.