Retains Top Spot in 5G Segment
Samsung Electronics has regained second place in India's smartphone market after China. It maintained its No. 1 position in the 5G segment.
According to market research firm IDC, Samsung Electronics was ranked second with a 19 percent share in the first quarter of 2022. Although its shipments dropped by 4.7 percent from the same period of 2021 to 7 million units, the Korean smartphone giant outperformed major competitors. Its market share gap with Xiaomi, the No. 1 player, narrowed from 8.2 percentage points to 4.3 percentage points. IDC analyzed that Galaxy S22 series generated strong demand with impressive pre-orders. In the 5G phone market, Samsung Electronics remained the No. 1 player with a share of 29 percent.
Xiaomi maintained its No. 1 position, but its market share and shipments plummeted due to a shortage of parts. Its market share in the first quarter stood at 23.3 percent, down 3.9 percentage points from the same period of 2021, and its shipments shrank by 18.2 percent on year.
Realme, which overtook Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2021 to claim second place, slumped down to third place. However, its market share rose by 5.7 percentage points to 16.4 percent in one year. During the same period, its shipments climbed by 46.3 percent.
China’s Vivo came in fourth with a market share of 15 percent, and Oppo fifth with 9.6 percent. The two Chinese smartphone makers’ shipments dropped by 17 percent and 24.9 percent, respectively, compared to the same period of 2021.
In the first quarter, smartphone shipments in India totaled 37 million units, down 5 percent from a year before. “India’s smartphone market has dwindled for three consecutive quarters,” IDC said. “The market was hit by the third wave of COVID-19, a shortage of low-priced smartphones and a consumer price hike caused by inflation.”
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics came in first in both shipments (22 percent) and sales (27 percent) in the Indian smartphone market in March, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research. It marked the first time since September 2021 that Samsung ranked first in the Indian market on a monthly basis.