It was July 2014 when Xiaomi officially debuted in India with its top of the range Mi 3: since then, the Chinese company has invested a lot in the Indian market, which has proved to be one of the most important in the world. In the moment of maximum splendor, Xiaomi has managed to conquer over 30% of the entire sector: since then, that is since 2017, he kept the first position, at least until now. Starting from 2021, Lei Jun's company began to suffer the difficulties of an increasingly difficult market, and has now officially lost its primacy.
Xiaomi is no longer the top manufacturer in the smartphone market in India
If you look at the 2022the smartphone market India has registered a decrease of -9% with 152 million units sold, the second worst drop in the history of Indian telephony. Compared to 2021, smartphone sales have indeed rewarded Xiaomi, in first place with 20%, but with a smaller gap than in past years, followed by Samsung in second place with 19%. But the negative result refers to the Q4 2022, a critical period as it also covers the Christmas holidays, and that's where Samsung he overcame it by reaching the 20%, while Xiaomi drops to second place together with vivo al 18%.
It gets even worse when you take the ranking by value and receipts: Samsung has the first position with 22%, Apple in second place with 18% e vivo in third place with 15%, while Xiaomi drops from 2nd to 4th step of the ranking. After having been for years a market focused almost entirely on the medium/low range, lately even India is rediscovering itself eager to buy premium products. And if on the one hand economic problems such as inflation, unemployment and geopolitical conflicts cause the sales of economic models to drop, on the other they + 11 % sales above the $ 365, never so high in Indian history.
For the first time, this range is recording double-digit growth, and it does so thanks to iPhone 13, the best-selling in this market segment; more generally, Apple is confirming the importance of India for its increasingly central business against rival China. The advent of new generation networks in India is also encouraging the sales of more expensive smartphones: i 5G models rose by +32%, especially with Samsung which holds 21% of the Indian 5G market, as well as having conquered slices of the premium segment with the S22 series.
The difficult period for Chinese companies continues: Xiaomi maintains the 1st place but in the most difficult moment ever, between competition, lack of components and government investigations; also Realme is not doing well, dropping to 4th place suffering from the problems of the economic market, while the "sister" OnePlus grows by +50% thanks to Nord CE 2 and CE 2 Lite, recording 22% and therefore the 2nd place in the medium/high range. Analysts say that this trend will continue in 2023, and perhaps it is no coincidence that brands such as Infinix e Tecno are aiming right at the premium sector, bro folding e ultra-fast recharges.
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