India’s smartphone market saw 32.1 million units shipped in Q1 2019, registering 7.1% year-on-year (YoY) growth, a report by the International Data Corporation said on Monday. This was despite the global market falling 6% YoY over the same period. The report said despite the government’s new e-commerce rules, online channels managed to sustain their pace and registering 19.6% YoY growth over the same period. Xiaomi, with 8.1% YoY growth, remained in pole position in Q12019; Samsung was second, having declined 4.8%. Vivo’s shipments doubled YoY in Q1 2019 and the company remained in third position ahead of Oppo, which saw 9.7% YoY growth, and Realme, which began as an online-focussed brand but now sells one in three of its phones offline. Average selling prices grew by 3.3% YoY to $161, the report said, attributing this to the growth in the$300-US$500 segment, which accounted for 6% of the overall smartphone market in Q1 2019. “Samsung surpassed Apple for the leadership position in the premium ($500+) segment with an overall share of 36.0% in Q1 2019 due to its newly launched Galaxy S10 flagship series that was supported by huge marketing campaigns. OnePlus followed, as its OnePlus 6T was the top-selling model in India’s $500+ smartphone segment,” Upasana Joshi, associate research manager, client devices, IDC India, said in a statement. The report said the feature phone market, which still accounts for half of all mobile phone shipments, saw 32.3 million units shipped over the quarter - a sharp decline of 42.4% YoY.…
