Xiaomi has been named the second largest maker and seller of smartphones in India for the fourth quarter of 2016 by IDC, with a purported 10.7% of the total smartphone market for India under their belt. According to Mi India, this is due at least in part to huge sales of the Redmi 3S lineup, with the Redmi 3S, Redmi 3S+, and Redmi 3S Prime collectively selling around 3 million units over the course of six months. This was confirmed by IDC, who also said that Xiaomi ruled the roost when it came to online phone sales in India for the quarter. Around the same time last year, Xiaomi only had 3.3% of the market for smartphones in India, meaning that they’ve more than doubled their hold on the market in a year’s time.
Xiaomi’s growth in India has been quick and rather phenomenal, with total shipments growing about three times year on year, with total sequential growth for the year clocking in around 15.3%. The phenomenal growth that led to near-dominance of the market for the fourth quarter of 2016 is poised to continue as Xiaomi expands its brick and mortar presence worldwide, with a focus on India, and readies their Redmi 5 budget flagship lineup for release. As fate would have it, Xiaomi’s meteoric rise managed to contribute to knocking local Indian OEMs completely off the top 5 charts for 2016, with Xiaomi being surpassed only by Samsung, with a staggering 25% plus hold on the market.
Xiaomi has been aggressive about their operations in India since entering the country in 2014, and they are showing no signs of stopping. Their winning combination of strong branding, compelling and iconic hardware, and bargain-bin pricing puts them in a position to supplant Samsung and assume the top position in the Indian smartphone market, if they play their cards right, but it would take a lot of time; Xiaomi is still building rapport with the Indian market, and longstanding champ Samsung has bottomless pockets and a lot to lose, after the recent Galaxy Note 7 fiasco put a serious damper on their reputation and sales worldwide. Meanwhile, other players in the market, such as LeEco, Oppo, and Vivo have a lot of the same stuff that made Xiaomi’s rise to near the top, and could realistically knock them off the 2nd place pedestal in the near future. The smartphone market in India is an emerging one, which makes this race all the more exciting.