The smartphone market in India saw 12% growth in 2021 despite a difficult start to the year due to the second wave of COVID-19, according to a report. Xiaomi continued to be the market leader, followed by Samsung. However, Xiaomi’s local competitor and BBK Electronics subsidiary Realme grew by up to 25% a year and reached the third position in the market in the fourth quarter. Other BBK subsidiaries, namely Vivo and Oppo, managed to capture the fourth and fifth positions during the quarter, respectively.
Analytics firm Canalys said in its last report on Monday that 162 million smartphones were shipped in India in 2021, up from 144.7 million recorded in 2020, marking an annual growth of 12%.
Xiaomi sold a total of 40.5 million units in 2021 to maintain its market lead with a 25% share. The company, however, has not seen any annual growth, and both its shipments and market share have fallen compared to 2020 results, in which it had shipped 40.7 million and had a 28% market share, Canalys said.
Unlike Xiaomi, Samsung grew by 5% annually in 2021 with 30.1% of shipments recorded. The South Korean company also maintained its second place in the market by capturing a 19% share.
Samsung’s market share, however, dropped by 20% from the previous year. However, Galaxy phone shipments have expanded by 1.5 million units from the 28.6 million mark recorded in 2020, the company said.
Canalys noted that Vivo ranked third annually, with a 16% stake it acquired after shipping 25.7 million units in 2021. The company’s annual growth for the year, however, was down 4% as it had a 19% share. in the previous year.
Brother Vivo Realme, on the other hand, achieved a 25% growth last year. The company’s smartphone shipments increased from 19.5 million units in 2020 to 24.2 million units in 2021, expanding its share from 13% to 15%, Canalys said.
“Realme’s record total shipments were made possible by innovations in inventory planning and management that led to a good supply of mass-market smartphones such as the Narzo 50A and C11,” noted Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia in a prepared statement.
Oppo, once the parent company of Realme, also saw annual growth of 6% in 2021. It sold 20.1 million smartphone units in the year, capturing a 12% share.
Canalys said Oppo sold 19 million units to capture a 13% share for the year, which represents a decline compared to 2020 statistics.
Indian smartphone shipments and year-over-year growth in full year 2021, as per Canalys
| Supplier | Fourth quarter 2021 shipments (in millions) | Market share in the fourth quarter of 2021 | Fourth quarter 2020 shipments (in millions) | Market share in the fourth quarter of 2020 | annual growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi | 9.3 | 21 percent | 12 | 27 percent | -22 percent |
| Samsung | 8.5 | 19 percent | 9.2 | 21 percent | -7 percent |
| I really | 7.6 | 17 percent | 5.1 | 12 percent | 49 percent |
| Alive | 5.6 | 13 percent | 7.7 | 18 percent | -27 percent |
| Oppo | 4.9 | 11 percent | 6.1 | 14 percent | -19 percent |
| Others | 8.5 | 19 percent | 3.8 | 9 percent | 126 percent |
| Total | 44.5 | 100 percent | 43.8 | 100 percent | 2 percent |
In the fourth quarter alone, the smartphone market in India grew by 2% to 44.5 million shipments. Units shipped in the quarter were, however, lower compared to the 43.8 million units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2020, as reported by Canalys.
Xiaomi managed to maintain its market leadership in the fourth quarter with 9.3 million shipments and 21% market share. The company, however, sold 22% fewer phones in 2022. It sold a total of 12 million units in the fourth quarter of 2020, with a 27% market share, according to the report.
Samsung also saw a 7% drop in its annual growth in the fourth quarter, with sales of 8.5 million units. It saw 9.2 million shipments in the same quarter last year.
However, unlike Xiaomi and Samsung, Realme took third place after scoring 49% annual growth in the quarter. The company sold 7.6 million units and gained 17% market share, Canalys said. The numbers look significant when compared to its 5.1 million shipments and 12% market share in Q4 2020.
Vivo and Oppo ranked fourth and fifth in the fourth quarter. While Vivo sold 5.6 million units and achieved a 13% market share, Oppo shipped 4.9 million units and gained an 11% share. Both Vivo and Oppo, however, saw their annual growth decline by 27% and 19% in the quarter, respectively, the Canalys report revealed.
Reliance Jio’s JioPhone Next also gained some momentum in the fourth quarter and got off to a strong start with several million units sold, the analyst firm noted.
Likewise, Tecno and Infinix – subsidiaries of Shanghai-based Transsion Holdings – increased their brand awareness in the market in the quarter.
Indian smartphone shipments and annual growth in Q4 2021, as per Canalys
| Supplier | Fourth quarter 2021 shipments (in millions) | Market share in the fourth quarter of 2021 | Fourth quarter 2020 shipments (in millions) | Market share in the fourth quarter of 2020 | annual growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi | 40.5 | 25 percent | 40.7 | 28 percent | 0 percent |
| Samsung | 30.1 | 19 percent | 28.6 | 20 percent | -5 percent |
| Alive | 25.7 | 16 percent | 26.9 | 19 percent | -4 percent |
| I really | 24.2 | 15 percent | 19.5 | 13 percent | 25 percent |
| Oppo | 20.1 | 12 percent | 19 | 13 percent | 6 percent |
| Others | 21.2 | 13 percent | 10 | 7 percent | 111 percent |
| Total | 162 | 100 percent | 144.7 | 100 percent | 12 percent |
By 2022, Canalys has predicted that 5G will become “significantly more affordable” in terms of coverage and price.
“5G-capable smartphones will drop further in price amid fierce supplier rivalry, but shipments will be stifled in the first half of 2022 before component shortages subside,” Chaurasia said. “Overall, India will see an upward push towards future-proof technologies, with smartphones being the center of the digital ecosystem and becoming more and more essential to the daily lives of Indian citizens.”