Vivo became top smartphone choice in India in Q1CY25, shows data

In the global market, Vivo phones do not make it to the top-10 list, and only Xiaomi's Redmi 14C 4G is the lone Chinese brand standing in the list at number eight

Apple’s iPhone 16 might be the hottest-selling smartphone in the world, with half of the top 10 models coming from its stable in the first quarter of calendar year 2025 (Q1CY25). But in India, the top honours go to Chinese mobile maker Vivo’s Y29 5G model (starting from ₹13, 999), which was launched last December. Vivo  has three out of the top 10 phones sold in India from the company in the same quarter, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

 

The Cupertino-headquartered company might be a big exporter of its smartphones from the country, but iPhone 16 is only the fifth hottest seller in India, and iPhone 15 is at the eighth spot in Q1CY25. But its phones were the only ones that had a premium pricing tag of over ₹30,000 among the top 10, and it still made it in what is a price-conscious market.

 

In the global market, Vivo phones do not make it to the top-10 list, and only Xiaomi’sSTRAP  Redmi 14C 4G is the lone Chinese brand standing in the list at number eight. Yet, in complete contrast, in India in the same quarter, despite all the geopolitical tensions, the Chinese continued to have a stranglehold, with seven out of the top 10 phone models owned by Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and Realme.

 

South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung, however, is the other big player with as many as four of its phone models in the top 10 of the global bestsellers for Q1CY25. Yet, despite its long presence in India, where it has its largest mobile factory in the world, Samsung has just one phone in the top selling list — the Samsung Galaxy A165G — which is the second-highest selling phone in the country in Q1. 

 

Executives in Counterpoint say that the success of Vivo Y29 was achieved on the back of an aggressive marketing and promotional offers in the offline space. The company, for instance, offered instant cashback of up to ₹1,500, boosting its appeal. Additionally, the availability of four variants with an incremental price difference (as low as ₹1,000) allowed retailers to upsell higher confligurations to consumers.

 

One of the executives also pointed out that the top 10 smartphone models in India in Q1 accounted for 22 per cent of total smartphone sales, declining slightly from 24 per cent in Q1CY24. Counterpoint attributes this to the substantial increase in the number of models available in the market, leading to a more distributed sales share across a wider range of devices.

 

What is interesting is that iPhone 15 and 16 were benefited, says Counterpoint, from frequent promotions and also the fact that Apple Inc. is expanding its reach in smaller cities by offering attractive deals.

 

However, one-fourth of the Q1 sales of smartphones came from ₹10,000-15,000 range, which was also reflected in the top 10 models.