China's BBK silently becoming the top phonemaker in India

Which is the number one smartphone maker in India? This is a question that is highly contested with advertising campaigns, PR rollouts and a lot of social media buzz. Xiaomi’s campaigns have been all about being number one, for a couple of years now. Samsung was also a part of this race but has given up competing.

However, the latest data from International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker and Counterpoint report can show a different story. In terms of a brand, Xiaomi might still be leading the chart, but in reality it’s China’s BBK that’s silently enjoying a very favourable (number one) position in the smartphone market.

With brands like Vivo, OPPO, Realme and OnePlus operating in India under the BBK Electronics Corporation, Xiaomi and Samsung’s claim of that number one spot might just all be about optics.

The year 2020 was quite a unique one for the Indian smartphone market, according to the IDC report, the India smartphone market exited 2020 at 150 million units, a 1.7% YoY decline, after several years of growth. The H1’20 saw a -26% YoY growth due to lockdowns and manufacturing shutdowns, however the market recovered with a 19% YoY growth as the restrictions got eased in H2’20. This growth was primarily because of work from home mandates, more devices needed for entertainment and as remote learning became the new normal.

The online channel for smartphone sales also outpaced the overall market, growing by 12% annually with a 48% market share in 2020. According to a counterpoint report, the trends were quite similar as well. In terms of shipments, Xiaomi did take the top spot with 26% market share of the 150 million smartphone shipments in the year 2020, with Samsung taking the second spot with a 21% share. Combine them, and you get 47% of the smartphone shipment captured by these two players alone. However, if you consider BBK Electronics brands operating out of India, collectively there is a massive perspective shift.

BBK’s Vivo remained the top offline player in 2020. However, it declined 13% YoY due to high exposure to the offline market, which was impacted by the pandemic in 2020.

The brand exited 2020 on a leaner inventory and ended up by contributing 16% of that shipment pie. BBK’s Realme was the biggest gainer with a growth of 22% and crossing the 20 million unit mark, contributing 11% of the shipped smartphones in 2020. A more premium OPPO, another brand under the BBK umbrella contributed 10% to the market in terms of shipments in 2020. OnePlus also had a good run, with a 200% YoY growth in Q4 2020 driven by its mid-range Nord series and the newly launched 8T series. It came back into the mid segment with the Nord series, made OnePlus cross 3 million shipments in a year for the first time. This puts it at almost 2% contributor to shipments of smartphones in 2020.

Now, it’s all about the optics here, on who you consider to be number one. On a brand-to-brand basis, the ranking in a descending order is Xiaomi, Samsung, Vivo, Realme, OPPO and OnePlus. However, Xiaomi’s sub-brand Poco is included in the Xiaomi share of smartphones and still they are no match to the numbers that BBK collective brands are doing at the moment. Poco crossed 5 million smartphone units for the first time in Q4 2020 driven by its M2, M2 Pro and C3 models, which gives them a 3.33% share of the pie that included in Xiaomi’s 26% contribution.

All brands combined, BBK Electronic in India captured almost 41% of the smartphone market in India with vivo, realme, OPPO and OnePlus. That’s more than 15% of what Xiaomi and Poco combined and 21% more than Samsung’s share of the pie.

So, numbers and claims can be deceptive, all you need to do is have a perspective. Advertising claims of being number one, is all about how well you walk that thin line. It is also all about looking at different angles on how you can drive that number one narrative.

In Xiaomi’s claim by leaving Poco out of the picture of being number one, it helps them sell more smartphones and keep their legend growing. However, in BBK’s case, it’s more like, we know who the big dog is, and we won’t make a fuss about it.