For the first time ever, more than half – 51.4 percent – of smartphone shipments in India are from Chinese companies. In sheer number of phones, these brands – particularly Xiaomi, Vivo, Lenovo, and Oppo – have rocketed 143 per cent in the past year. The news comes as Chinese firms ramp up advertising and open Indian factories.
Much of that gain has been at the expense of lackluster Indian brands, which consumers have turned their backs on with alarming alacrity. Homegrown smartphone markers were 40 per cent of the India market in the first few months of 2016, but that’s crumbled to 13.5 percent at the start of 2017.
Samsung, in this tumult, has managed to increase its grip on India, stretching its lead in the past year ahead of the quartet of Chinese assailants.
A few more facts from IDC’s new India data:
•Average smartphone price: US$155
•That’s up from US$131 last year
•Top model: Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 4
•That Xiaomi model beat out Samsung’s Galaxy J2
•95 percent are 4G-enabled
 "Photo: iStock")