India smartphone mkt falls 10% in Q3; Xiaomi, Vivo shipments dip: Study

Lowest third-quarter shipment since 2019 as weak demand and device price hurt festive buying

India’s smartphone market declined 10 per cent year-on-year (YoY), shipping 43 million units in the third quarter of this financial year (July-September), said a report on Monday.

Xiaomi maintained its lead but with shipments declining YoY (-18 per cent). Samsung regained its second slot, but with flat shipments of 8 million and Vivo dropped to third position with a 20 per cent YoY decline in shipments, according to International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Realme dropped to the fourth position with shipments declining at 18 per cent YoY, while OPPO took the fifth spot with shipment growth at 6 per cent.

According to the report, the sub-$300 segment underperformed, as shipments declined by 15 per cent YoY. The premium segment of $500+ continued to remain the highest growing price band with 64 per cent growth YoY and 8 per cent share.

Apple led the premium segment with 63 per cent share, followed by Samsung (22 per cent) and OnePlus (9 per cent).

Despite the festive season starting early, this was the lowest third-quarter shipment since 2019. Weak demand and device price pulled down festive buying, said the report.

High channel inventory continued to be a concern for vendors. Overall, the ASP (average selling price) reached a record $226, growing by 15 per cent YoY and 6 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).

“The ASP has grown consistently for the past eight quarters in a row due to increasing costs and growing 5G shipments at mid-premium price points,” said Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.

According to Navkendar Singh, Associate Vice President, Devices Research, IDC, inventory pile up and post-festive cyclical demand tapering will lead to a muted 4Q22.

“2022 is likely to see shipments of around 150 million units, a decline of 8-9 per cent YoY. The major challenges going into 2023 are the impact of inflation on consumer demand, increasing device costs, and slow feature phone-to-smartphone migration,” he said.

Singh added that the migration of 4G smartphone users to 5G smartphones should give a growth fillip to the market in 2023, particularly in the mid-premium and higher segments.

Online channels clocked a record 58 per cent share, propelled by e-commerce festival season sales like Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon Great India Festival. Offline shipments, however, declined by 20 per cent YoY as they struggled to generate demand while competing with aggressive online plays, the report added.

5G reached 36 per cent of total smartphones in 3Q22 with 16 million units. India has shipped 67 million 5G smartphones from 1Q20 till 3Q22. The ASP for 5G smartphones dropped to $393 in 3Q22 from $509 in 1Q20.