The Indian smartphone market grew by 4 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2020, according to research firm Counterpoint. The shipments actually grew annually in January and February, when major smartphone makers launched new smartphones. Over 31 million units were sold during the same period. But the smartphone sales saw a 19 per cent year-over-year dip, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The report says that the ongoing pandemic will hurt the overall market, which will show a decline of 10 per cent during the calendar year. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi continues to be India’s number one smartphone maker with a market share of 30 per cent. Meanwhile, Vivo grew by 40 per cent YoY, thanks to the strong performance of its Y series of smartphones. Samsung held on to the third position with a 16 per cent market share. Surprisingly, Apple grew a strong 78 per cent year-over-year in Q1 this year. In fact, Apple now commands 55 per cent of the premium smartphone segment. Also Read: Xiaomi Demo Day on April 24: It’s company’s first virtual investment summit Realme grew by 119 per cent due to the offline expansion, strong value propositions and aggressive branding according to the report. Oppo grew by 83 per cent, thanks to its budget segment devices. Transsion Group, the company behind itel, Infinix and Tecno also saw growth in the smartphone segment by 78 per cent. POCO separated from Xiaomi and since then has launched one smartphone, the Poco X2. With it, the company was able to capture a 2 per cent market share. Also Read: Xiaomi Mi 10 vs Realme X50 Pro 5G: Which 5G phone is better? Even though smartphone sales saw YoY growth during Q1 2020, the feature phone market saw a massive YoY decline of 24 per cent.
