Smartphone mkt witnesses 13% fall due to 2nd wave
NEW DELHI: The second wave of Covid-19 infections in India has led the country’s smartphone market to drop by 13% between the first two quarters of 2021. According to a report by market research firm Canalys, the market fell by 13% between Q1 and Q2 of 2021, with 32.4 million units shipped in the second quarter. However, the report noted that the market still grew by 87% year-on-year. The country had seen only 17.3 million shipments in the second quarter last year, due to the nationwide lockdowns imposed by the government.
“India was taken by surprise by its second wave, as the new COVID variant emerged and took hold quickly,” said Sanyam Chaurasia, analyst at Canalys. “For smartphone vendors, this was a wake-up call, and shows the importance of bolstering both online and offline presences equally. Smartphone vendors in India had assumed Covid-19 would not return, and several planned to invest in infrastructure for branded stores and partnerships with third-party offline channels. But once again they were quickly compelled to pivot to an online strategy,” he added.
Further, the report said that Chinese smartphone maker
Xiaomi remained at the top of the market, with 29% market share and 9.5 million unit shipments. Samsung came in at number two with 5.5 million units and 17% market share. Xiaomi’s Chinese compatriots, Vivo, Realme and Oppo, which are all owned by BBK Electronics, took the next three sports, respectively.
While Vivo shipped 5.4 million units, Realme and Oppo shipped 4.9 million and 3.8 million units, respectively. The three companies had 17%, 15% and 12% market share, respectively, according to Canalys.
Demand for electronics and consumer durables has been growing since state governments started calling off lockdowns back in May.