Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said, “Although most vendors have aggressively shipped devices to meet the festival demand, traction is weaker than expected and inventories will pile up.”
Chinese company Vivo has captured the top spot in India for the first time with 19% market share and shipped 9.1 million units in July-September period amid aggressive sales promotion across channels. Obtained. Canalys said Xiaomi secured second place with 7.8 million units shipped, driven by its low-cost 5G lineup, while Samsung took third place with 7.5 million units.
Oppo (excluding OnePlus) and Realme rounded out the top five, shipping 6.3 million and 5.3 million units, respectively. Smartphone companies outside of the top five did well this quarter as well. Apple was anticipating strong demand from smaller cities ahead of the latest launch of the iPhone 15. Other brands such as Motorola, Google, andNothing continued to see increased sales volumes, supported by their unique design languages, clean user interfaces, and channel expansion strategies, according to the report.
“In the third quarter, an expanded mid- to high-end product offering, competitive trade-in deals, and accessible financing options drove both replacement and upgrade buyers toward higher-priced models. Rising prices have weakened entry-level demand. Consumers should postpone purchases until after Diwali,” Chaurasia said.
He added that smartphone companies are relying on offline sales ahead of Diwali and will remain cautious about year-end inventory levels. According to the research firm, deep discounts and channel margin expansion will be essential to effectively manage inventory in the second half of 2024.
Canalys expects modest single-digit growth in 2025 as the replacement cycle caused by the coronavirus pandemic ends in the first half of next year.
“Beyond the pandemic replacement cycle, the push for ultra-low-end 5G will remain critical to the market’s essential growth in 2025,” Chaurasia said. “Despite some challenges in the bill of materials, the Indian smartphone market will see large-scale launches of sub-Rs 10,000 5G devices next year, driven by component vendors and OEMs.”
