New Delhi: Chinese maker, Xiaomi and South Korean giant, Samsung, together controlled nearly 50 percent share of the country's smartphone market till the end of last year, the latest data released by International Data Corporation (IDC) said. Last year, Xiaomi, which shipped 142.3 million units in 2019, overtook Samsung to become the leading smartphone maker in the country with 28.9 percent share, said IDC's Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report. Samsung followed the Chinese smartphone maker with 22.4 percent share.
Xiaomi had a 20.9 percent market share in 2017, against 24.7 percent share of Samsung.
Vivo controlled 14.2 percent of the market share, while OPPO (10.2 percent) and Transsion (6.4 percent) were the other top brands that were placed in the list of top five smartphone brands in India. Excluding Samsung, four of the five smartphone brands are based in China.
"Amongst the big highlights of 2018 were the online-focused brands that drove the share of the online channel to an all-time high of 38.4 percent in 2018," Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, said in a statement.
Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain credited the company's "100 percent teamwork" and love from "Mi Fans" for the success.
"Mi Fans! Thank you for your love and support," Jain tweeted, adding that in the fourth quarter of 2018, the company emerged as 54 percent bigger than the second brand.
Apple, however, has experienced lower than expected iPhones sales in some emerging markets in recent times. It has not been able to make much of an impact in the Indian smartphone market as well.