Xiaomi Ships Record 12.1 Million Smartphones in India in Q3 2018: Canalys

Even though the overall smartphone market in India saw a decline in shipments in the third quarter of 2018 compared to last year, Xiaomi continues a healthy upward growth trend in the country. According to a fresh Canalys report, the Chinese giant managed to sell-in more than 12 million smartphones in the country, in Q3 2018 seeing a 31.5 percent annual growth. To recall, the company had sold 9.2 million smartphones in Q3 2017. The overall smartphone market in India saw a decline with 40.8 million smartphones shipped in Q3 last year versus 40.4 million smartphones shipped in Q3 this year.

Xiaomi rakes in 29.8 percent market share in Q3 2018 with 12.1 million units shipped. Coming in second is Samsung with 9.3 million shipments and raking in 23 percent market share. The South Korean giant saw a decline in share, as last year in Q3, Samsung managed to achieve 9.4 million shipments and raking in 23.1 percent market share.

Vivo saw a steady annual growth of 12 .3 percent with 4.5 million shipments and 11.1 percent market share. In Q3 2017, Vivo managed to ship 4 million units and raking in 9.8 percent market share only. Oppo came in fourth with 3.6 million shipments, will annual shipments falling by 24 percent. The report states that the decline of the vendor eased to 2 percent partly due to the strong performance of its secondary brand 'Realme' which managed to ship 80,000 units in Q3 2018.

Micromax also made a surprise entry into the top five vendors with 2.6 million shipments in Q3 2018 - giving it a 6.3 percent share, from 3.9 percent in the same quarter last year. It raked in an annual growth of 61.5 percent, with the vendor shipping five times as many smartphones this quarter as last quarter. The report states that this is Micromax's best performance in recent years, and the credit is strongly given to the government order from Chattisgarh, where it decided to provide smartphones and Jio connectivity at a fixed price of Rs. 2,510 to 5 million women and college students. Counterpoint's Q3 2018 report also placed it in the top five, with a 9 percent share.