The smartphone market in India crossed the 30 million unit shipments milestone for the first time ever in a quarter in CY Q3 2016 maintaining its healthy traction with 11 percent Year-on-Year growth, according to IDC.
The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi makes its debut in top 5 league as its shipments doubled over previous quarter. The vendor has grown more than 2.5 times over the same period last year, says the report.
Xiaoi managed to make a mark in India smartphone market with its online and minimalist product portfolio. Two years after it entered the country, they have established itself as one of the leading smartphone sellers making India its biggest overseas market. Majorly credited with its unique strategy of making low-cost products, the company has the knack of making products that people love. Redmi Note 3 for instance, is the number one selling smartphone online in India with over 2,300,000 units sold until September 2016.
In the first 18 days of October 2016 alone, the company sold a record one million smartphones in India. The global chief executive of Xiaomi Lei Jun said they can become the country’s top smartphone brand within five years, according to a report by ET.
“At Xiaomi, we keep the product at the core of our strategy and it is a great lineup of technologically advanced products which enabled us to be in the Top 5 in India this year, says Manu Jain, India Head, Xiaomi, in an interaction with TechRadar India.
The company is also among the firsts to work on an offline strategy to expand its presence across the country. With over seven out of 10 phones sold in India are bought at offline stores, a robust offline network which many other players are also pursuing is a move in the right direction. As the vendor plans to expand its footprint in the offline channel, competition is likely to get intense in Indian smartphone market.
How Xiaomi’s products fared in 2016
Redmi Note 3: Redmi Note 3 was the first device with finger print sensor from Xiaomi in India and also the first in India with Snapdragon 650 processor. According to IDC, it is the number 1 selling smartphone online in India. Until September, more than 2,300,000 units were sold. The smartphone was also the bestseller during the festive sales on Flipkart and Amazon.
Mi 5: Mi 5 is a flagship smartphone from Xiaomi and first device with Snapdragon 820 processor smartphone in India to be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Being a sleek device with a 3D glass body made from Corning Gorilla Glass 4, Mi 5 witnessed excellent response from consumers.
Mi Max: Mi Max was the largest smartphone launched by Xiaomi with a big 6.44 full HD display and big 4,850mAh battery. Designed with a big battery Mi Max came with a Snapdragon 650 processor. In Q3 2016 with Mi Max, Xiaomi dominated the '6" and 6"+' smartphone market with more than 40% market share, according to IDC Q3 2016 report.
Redmi 3S and 3S Prime: Price and features that almost matched the Redmi Note 3 made Redmi 3S and Redmi 3S Prime a hit and in its first sale, the company sold 90,000 units in just 8 minutes. The Redmi 3S boasts a 4,100 mAh battery, came with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor supported by 3GB RAM. The device also features a fingerprint sensor. More than 90K devices were sold in the first open sale.
What's next?
“2016 was a phenomenal year in our two years here in India,” says Manu. “We witnessed several milestones for the company, some were benchmarks for us and some made it as an industry standard. We intend to take the game to the next level in 2017 with many more products,” Manu adds.
