Xiaomi has gained remarkably by edging out the global leader Samsung, Apple and other Indian brands such as Micromax and Lava. According to Counterpoint Research report, Xiaomi managed to grab 46% of the market share in India in Q4 2016 by aggressive marketing strategies and channel push. The company had conducted a series of campaigns on Mi.com during Diwali by giving away free gifts in the form of smartphones and coupons.
Even though Samsung retained its primary leadership position in the smartphone segment during Q4 2016, Xiaomi managed to grab 46% of the market along with Oppo, Vivo, and Lenovo. Interestingly, none of the companies based in India found a place among the top five smartphone brands as far as market share is concerned.
Based on the data released by Counterpoint’s market monitor service, Samsung occupies 24% market share in Q4 2016 followed by Xiaomi at 9%. Meanwhile, Vivo slightly improved with 10% share. Xiaomi is not alone with Lenovo joined them with the same share. However, Oppo managed to fetch only 8% share despite aggressive marketing in both print and visual media.
If you compare the figures of the same period in 2015, the Chinese smartphone brands occupied a major chunk of 46% in Q4 2016. The interesting fact is that in November 2016, Xiaomi and other companies based in China managed to occupy 51% market share in the overall smartphone arena.
Chinese brands Oppo, Vivo, Lenovo and Xiaomi continued to grow at the expense of Samsung and Indian brands. Their success was attributable to a variety of factors including strong marketing and channel push, as well as better access to components that were in limited supply.
In the meantime, the local Indian brands such as Micromax, Intex, and Lava saw a drastic shrink in the market share to 20% during Q4 2016 when compared to a massive 54% in Q4 2015. However, Tim Cook-owned Apple, Samsung, and HTC experienced a slight increase of 1% in the share. The overall share of these three premium companies was pegged at 34% from 33% in Q4 2015.
Xiaomi recently launched Redmi Note 4 in India. The first flash sale conducted on January 24 saw a whopping response with 200,000 units selling out within a span of 10 minutes from both Mi.com and Flipkart. In a press release, Flipkart added that this was the biggest-ever sale of any smartphone in India.
That said, Xiaomi continues to be popular among tech enthusiasts in India. The company recently launched Mi Community where fans and users share content. Moreover, the forum is also used as a tool to clear doubts associated with the Redmi and Mi devices. The company also entered into a partnership with Amazon and Snapdeal to sell the smartphones. However, Flipkart still holds a huge market share in the sale of Xiaomi smartphones.
