Remember when India used to defy global mobile industry trends to expand in size while most other major smartphone markets were contracting? Pretty much the opposite is true right now, as handset shipments are falling way harder in the world's second most populous country than virtually anywhere else.
Granted, the global smartphone market in its entirety had a fairly poor first quarter of the year, dropping 12 percent in overall sales compared to Q1 2022, but that can actually be described as a relatively "stable" result when you consider what happened in India during the same period.
The nation's smartphone shipments declined by a whopping 20 percent in Q1 2023 from the first three months of last year, and yet believe it or not, that was a smaller drop than what the market experienced during the final 90 days of 2022 compared to Q4 2021.
In total, an estimated 30.6 million smartphones were sold in India between January and March 2023, compared to the 38.2 million unit tally of Q1 2022, and just like in Q4 2022, Samsung came out on top as far as regional vendors are concerned.
But the local (and global) heavyweight champion is unlikely to be delighted with its latest quarterly sales figure in the Indian market, which is 11 percent lower than its Q1 2022 score. Fortunately for Samsung, former silver medalist Vivo and ex-leader Xiaomi also had a pretty bad quarter compared to previous ones, slipping to third and fourth place respectively.
In second, Oppo (which includes OnePlus) managed to defy all industry trends to boost its shipment numbers by a solid 18 percent year-on-year, while Realme was by far the weakest performer of the top five, nonetheless clinging on to its position in said hierarchy.
That leaves Apple somewhere far behind its global arch-rival in the Indian smartphone market, although the premium segment is likely to be copiously dominated by iPhones once again when that particular Q1 2023 report comes out. After all, there's clearly a reason why Canalys is highlighting the regional popularity of Samsung's "new 5G-capable A-series" mid-rangers rather than that of the high-end Galaxy S23 family in today's press release.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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