Poco, OnePlus top Indian smartphone shipment growth but overall reading flat

• The Indian smartphone market remained flat in 2023, reporting just 1% growth in shipments.
• Samsung has emerged as the market leader with the highest market share, despite a decline.
• Poco, OnePlus and Apple have all reported a significant growth in shipments.

The Indian smartphone market has remained flat in 2023, reporting a growth of just 1% year-on-year. In 2023, 146 million smartphones were shipped in the country. While the overall year remained flat, the second half of the year reported a 11% year-on-year growth.

According to a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC), consumer demand remained stressed in 2023, leading to excess inventory levels.

The year-end showed signs of recovery as Q4 2023 reported a growth of 26% year-on-year with 37 million smartphones shipped in the last quarter. This was partly fuelled by the introduction of new smartphones.

“Most brands chose to reduce prices and offer additional channel margins in the last quarter to manage the inventory levels from post festive cyclic dip. This will give a lukewarm start to 2024 with cautious stocking by the channels,” said Upasana Joshi, research manager, client devices, IDC India.

Rise in average selling price

There was a decent rise in the average selling price (ASP) of smartphones in 2023. The ASP of smartphones shipped increased by 14% year-on-year, marking the third consecutive quarter where the ASP has recorded a double-digit growth.

The increased ASP is due to the increased share of smartphones in the premium segment, rising from 6% in 2022 to 10% in 2023. Additionally, the share of 5G smartphones in the overall shipments has increased to 55%.

Top 10 smartphone makers in India in 2023

Samsung leads the smartphone industry

Samsung for the second consecutive year leads the smartphone industry with the highest market share, despite a decline in its market share when compared to 2022.

Samsung accounted for 17% of smartphone shipments in 2023, down from 18.1% in 2022.

Xiaomi lost the most market share in 2023 and fell from the second position to the fourth position, after dominating the Indian smartphone industry for a long time.

Xiaomi’s market share declined from 17.8% in 2022 to 12.4% in 2023, reporting a 29.6% decline in shipments. The brand continues to lead the entry level segment that includes devices priced under $100.

Poco reported the highest year-on-year change at 54.2% as its market share increased from 3.2% in 2022 to 4.9% in 2023.

Apple reported a 38.6% change as its market share increased from 4.6% in 2022 to 6.4% in 2023. The company dominated the super-premium segment which includes smartphones priced above $800 with a market share of 68%. Samsung is second in this segment with a market share of 30%, meaning the two companies account for over 98% of the segment.

“The road to recovery for smartphones in 2024 looks strained and elongated, as worries around income, inflationary stress, price increases, and inventories remain. 2023 was all about affordable 5G devices, timely price corrections, and offline channel expansion by brands, whereas 2024 and beyond requires greater efforts, especially at entry-level price points, to fuel organic growth," said Navkendar Singh, AVP, client devices research, IDC India.

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