Smartphone shipments rebound in anticipation of record festive sales

In spite of localised lockdowns and a gloomy economic outlook, India’s smartphone market sent out a strong signal in July-September. After falling by 50 per cent in the previous quarter, the second largest market in the world shipped a record number of smartphones in the last quarter. At 50 million units, the shipment number broke all previous records as Chinese players Vivo, Realme and Xiaomi shipped in greater volumes. While Samsung – the only non-Chinese brand at the top - shipped over 10 million smartphones in anticipation of bumper sales during the festive season, smaller players were decimated further by the growing influence of the top five brands.