If we exclude Samsung, the Indian smartphone market is completely dominated by Chinese manufacturers. However, tensions between India and China, along with the boycott movement against Chinese products, could change that.
A few days ago, India officially issued a ban on 59 Chinese apps. Among them is the currently hot app TikTok, where India is one of TikTok’s largest markets, accounting for 30% of total downloads.
Analysts believe that Xiaomi, Vivo, and other Chinese smartphone manufacturers will be the next victims of this boycott wave. Chinese smartphones have an advantage in India due to their affordable prices and strong specifications.
According to the latest estimates, Xiaomi holds 30% of the market share, Vivo 17%, with Samsung in third place at 16%, followed by Realme at 14% and Oppo at 12%. Chinese smartphone brands account for a total of 81% of the market share in India, while Apple holds a modest 11%.
Samsung is clearly taking advantage of this good opportunity to capture more market share in the promising Indian market. Recently, Samsung launched a series of 4 budget smartphones in India.
Samsung is not only focusing on its premium product lines, but also paying great attention to mid-range smartphones like the A-series and budget models like the M-series.
In the upcoming months, Samsung will launch a smartphone using a third-party OLED panel, instead of one from Samsung Display, to cut costs. This will be the first time Samsung uses an OLED panel from another manufacturer, showing its efforts to reduce product prices.
Not only Samsung, but even Apple may benefit from the boycott wave against China in India. Apple has also changed its strategy by launching affordable iPhones. The iPhone 12 is expected to be priced lower than the iPhone 11, making it more accessible to potential markets like India.
Source: Phonearena