India smartphone shipments reach new highs in Q3 2020

Indian smartphone shipments declined nearly 50% in the second quarter of 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This led to all-time lows in the market, but it looks like the third quarter of 2020 brought us a record high.

Tracking company Canalys reported that smartphone shipments in India hit 50 million units in the third quarter of 2020. According to the company, this is a record 8% compared to the previous year. In the third quarter of 2019, 46.2 million units were delivered in India.

Canalys analyst Adwait Mardikar stated that reduced lockdown restrictions “created the perfect atmosphere for sustainable growth.” He added that online channels with lots of devices launched before the holiday season are also making big profits.

Varun Kannan, research analyst at Canalys, also found that Chinese brands accounted for 74% of Indian shipments in the third quarter of 2020, a small change from 76% a year ago. This despite high-profile tensions between India and China in 2020.

Xiaomi prevailed in the manufacturer rankings in the quarter. The brand grew from 12 million shipments and a 25.9% market share a year ago to 13.1 million shipments and 26.1% market share in the third quarter of 2020.

The second-placed Samsung delivered 10.2 million units (20.4% market share) in the quarter, compared with 9.5 million units (20.6% share) in the previous year. The top 5 were rounded off by Vivo (8.8 million units), Realme (8.7 million) and Oppo (6.1 million).

This may not be reflected in the table above, but Canalys also noted that Apple had double-digit growth in India, shipping nearly 800,000 units. The growth was attributed to the new online shop and the associated promotions (e.g. trade-ins, bundling of AirPods). However, the tracking company warned that the iPhone 12 series could be a tough sell in the market due to the lack of 5G networks and a less than ideal pricing strategy.

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