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| Xiaomi has once again outranked Samsung in the Indian smartphone market despite the release of the Galaxy S9 series. Photo: Reuters/Sergio Perez |
By Corazon Victorino, International Business Times - Business
For the second consecutive quarter, Samsung Electronics has failed to secure the top spot in India’s smartphone market. The South Korean giant lost the spot to Chinese company Xiaomi Inc.
Yonhap reported Tuesday that Samsung has once again been outranked by Xiaomi in the Indian smartphone market in terms of shares in the January-March period. This is already the second time for Xiaomi to perform better than Samsung in the biggest market outside of China.
In the October-December period of 2017, Xiaomi reportedly accounted for 27 percent of the Indian market, while Samsung trailed behind with 25 percent. In the first quarter of 2018, the gap between the two companies widened.
According to the data compiled by industry tracker Canalys, Xiaomi has obtained 31 percent of the Indian smartphone market in the first quarter. On the other hand, Samsung maintained its 25 percent share in spite of the release of the Galaxy S9 series in the final month of the quarter.
Canalys analyst Ishan Dutt noted how Xiaomi is becoming a big player in the Indian market because of its impressive smartphone releases. “Xiaomi is becoming a force to be reckoned with in India. Apart from being some of the best value devices on the market, Xiaomi’s smartphones are now available in more places and in larger quantities,” Dutt said.
“Xiaomi is now bringing this cost disruption to TVs, another consumer market that is dominated by heavyweights, such as Samsung, Sony and LG. The move will add much needed equity to its brand and will positively affect its longevity in the market,” the analyst added.
Chinese smartphone makers have undeniably emerged to be very strong competitors of Samsung in markets outside of the latter’s home country, South Korea. Samsung has also failed to attract more consumers in China. The Galaxy phone series maker has only managed to get 0.8 percent of the Chinese market in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Samsung isn’t the only one suffering amid the improving performance of Chinese brands. Five Apple assemblers told Bloomberg this week that the demand for the iPhone X has significantly weakened just a quarter after its release. The disappointing performance of the iOS 11-running flagship phone is being linked to how Chinese phone makers start to dominate smartphone markets because of their premium but less expensive handsets.
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