Xiaomi’s market share falls in India, Samsung wins

The two largest smartphone markets in the world are China and India. In the latter country, there has been one player that has dominated smartphone sales for the past five years: Xiaomi. This has been thanks to its recipe for good looking phones with decent specs and low prices.

But things are changing in India. Anti-China sentiment is at an all-time high and Indians have more disposable income than in previous years. Thanks to data from Counterpoint Research, we can see that Xiaomi’s market share in the Indian smartphone industry has plummeted. In fact, 2022 saw the end of a five-year streak of Xiaomi dominating the Indian smartphone market in all but one quarter.

As you might expect, Xiaomi’s loss is Samsung’s gain.

The above chart shows the battle between Samsung and Xiaomi for Indian market share over the past few years. You can see Xiaomi dominating almost every quarter, with Samsung losing serious steam from Q2 2018 to Q1 2020, the latter of which saw the company at an all-time low. If you recall, this period was the standstill of the Galaxy A series, Samsung’s mid-range and budget portfolio. Without strong entries in the market, Samsung largely handed the victories to Xiaomi.

But around this time, Samsung actually started taking the Galaxy A series seriously and made a comeback. However, Xiaomi’s market share was superior in all but one quarter: Q3 2020, right around the time the Galaxy A series got good again. Yet Samsung quickly lost that momentum.

In 2022, however, Xiaomi’s market share declined. As mentioned earlier, a combination of anti-China sentiment and citizens’ willingness to spend more on smartphones contributed to this downfall. Now, in 2023, the chart above strongly suggests that Samsung will continue to gain in the country while Xiaomi continues to decline.

This chart should be very worrying for Xiaomi. It’s clear that its usual strategy – releasing a bunch of really cheap phones all the time – isn’t going to work anymore. It needs to start making phones that appeal to buyers who want a little more quality, even if that means spending a little extra. If it doesn’t make this change, the Indian market will be Samsung’s – and even Apple’s – to win.