India's smartphone market falls 13% sequentially in Q2: Canalys

The period between April-June 2021 saw a decline in smartphone shipments in India by 13% to 32.4 million units, according to research firm Canalys. The demands of smartphones were reduced due to the second wave of Covid-19. The year-on-year comparison showed significant improvement when compared to the period April-June 2020 when the nation was under complete lockdown.

Top players

In June 2021, Xiaomi was the top player with a 29% market share (9.5 million units shipment), Samsung stood second with 17% share (5.5 million), and Vivo with 5.4 million.

Realme overtook Oppo for fourth place, shipping 4.9 million units (15%) against Oppo’s 3.8 million (12%).

Impact of Covid-19

The lockdown restrictions and economic disruption caused due to the surge in Covid-19 had limited the disposable income of consumers.

However, the second quarter saw signs of recovery which was boosted by vaccination programmes and reviving consumer confidence.

India is expected to rebound in the second half of 2021, aided by accelerated vaccinations, as well as brands expanding promotional activities and new product releases.

In the short term, vendors will bear the impact of supply chain disruption, and will be conservative about raising prices. But the component shortage also brings another risk – regional deprioritization – as brands look to allocate their limited supplies of devices to more lucrative markets.