India being the world’s second largest smartphone market houses many Chinese brands such as Lenovo, Vivo, Gionee, Oppo, LeEco, etc. Also, there are smartphone makers from other parts of the world such as Samsung, Apple, and LG.
As per the data available from the research firm IDC for the last year, the Chinese smartphone brands have occupied 22 percent of the Indian smartphone market with their low priced offerings. This is a sharp increase from the share of 12 percent as per early 2015 data.
The non-Indian and non-Chinese brands such as Samsung and Apple have witnessed a steep drop in their market share from 44 percent to 37 percent in the same time frame. The Indian brands have managed to hold on their market share all through the year, but their market share was 38 percent by the end of 2015 which was much lower than 44 percent by the end of 2014.
The statistics show that the sleek and relatively cheap smartphones from the Chinese brands are winning significant market share in India where the product penetration is 30 percent. This means that the Chinese smartphone brands are sure to experience a big win in the future.
Most Chinese smartphones have price tags in the sub-Rs 10,000 price bracket. These are cheaper than the offerings from the well established global brands. Many inexpensive Chinese smartphone offerings provide 4G compatibility.
Apart from pricing, another reason for these Chinese smartphones to sell fast is aggressive marketing. Brands such as LeEco, Oppo, Vivo and Gionee have together occupied 55 percent of the Indian smartphone advertising market worth Rs 1,200 crore. The marketing spends by the Chinese companies is higher than the combined spends of Samsung, Apple and Micromax.
The Chinese brands have managed to double their total market share in the last year and this is a practice year-on-year. This year will be highly competitive with the Chinese smartphone players adopting aggressive pricing tactics.
