The China-based smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi recently achieved new levels of success. A company which has only been around for 3 to 4 years has not only built up and spread its market really fast but have also successfully beaten the world best android seller Samsung and made up the way to the top of the ranking list in India.
Samsung has been the leading smartphone company in India for six years but the company was pushed out in the fourth and final quarter of the pole by a slight edge.
According to a recent report by Canalys, an organization which research and track the smartphone market in India, the tech giant has been defeated by Xiaomi in the terms of market share in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2017. Xiaomi is now ranking on the top with a market share of 27 percent which is approximately 8.2 million smartphone units. Samsung was unable to maintain its leadership and sold over 7.3 million smartphone units and was ranked second with a market share of 25 percent.
However, in the third quarter (Q3) there was a tie between the two companies with a market share of 23.5 percentage.
Another market researcher and analyst, Counterpoint the Xiaomi took over Samsung with a 25 percent market share while Samsung only managed 23 percent in the fourth quarter. Followed up by other brands like Oppo, Huawei, Vivo and Lenovo who took 6 percent market share each. However, Samsung still managed to stay on top for the full calendar year with a 24 percent market share.
The research data always vary between different organizations and that is why Samsung still claims to be the leading smartphone manufacturer in India. In a report the company says:
“Samsung is India’s number 1 smartphone company by a distance. As per GfK, which tracks sales to end consumers, in the last (November) quarter Samsung had a 45 percent value market share and 40 percent volume market share. Samsung is a full range player and leads the smartphone business across every segment of the India market in 2017.”
The position of both the companies may change around time to time on the leader board, but it is a fact that Xiaomi will now be seriously competing against Samsung to become the top smartphone manufacturer in India overall.
Let’s take a look at how Xiaomi became the leading smartphone company. The most contributing factor is the aggressive price point, the company rules the market with their mid-range smartphones which cost around 10,000 to 15,000 which is not only very affordable but you get the best specs and built quality for the price point. The Redmi series was a big success for the company especially the Redmi Note 4 and Redmi note 5A which were a complete hit in the budget market in 2017.
Another contributing factor is the autonomy that the company granted to its Indian units, allowing the business to run locally. Earlier the Redmi phones were rarely in stock at the local shops and were only available at the e-commerce websites. But now this gas changed which allowed the company to grow rapidly, selling millions of units within just few days.