Chinese smartphone maker Vivo posted its best ever performance in India in Q1 2019, shipping more than 4.5 million units, its best result since Q3 2018. The vendor placed third, taking 15.0% of the market, up from 7.3% a year ago. Xiaomi held onto its lead but grew just 4%, its slowest rate since it entered the market. Samsung came second for a sixth consecutive quarter and was the only vendor in the top five to see its shipments shrink. Despite Vivo’s performance, the Indian smartphone market was flat, growing by under 2% to 30.1 million units.

“Vivo’s expensive bets on the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket are paying off,” said Rushabh Doshi, Research Director at Canalys. Vivo paid six times the previous amount to retain title sponsorship of the IPL, touted to be the world’s richest league. “Vivo has made several shrewd marketing investments, which also include signing internationally popular Bollywood actor Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador. But it faces an intense battle in 2019, as Oppo’s Cricket World Cup sponsorship and Samsung’s fresh offensive with the new M series threaten to stifle momentum.”

Realme, an Oppo spin-off, made a surprise appearance on the leaderboard this quarter. Having only been in operation since Q2 last year, the vendor has steadily grown shipments, reaching 1.3 million units in Q1 2019. “Realme’s struggle in 2019, will be the offline channel,” said Doshi. “To win in the offline channel, Realme will need to meet margin expectations, fund retailers to prioritize Realme, and invest in advertisements, banners and brand ambassadors. A mix of these forces is necessary to boost demand for the brand, as well as encourage retailers to stock and sell its phones. But Realme needs to be mindful of the fast-shifting channel landscape in India. Traditionally offline-focused vendors, such as Samsung, are pivoting to online quickly. A quick withdrawal of Samsung from the offline channel will result in accelerated consolidation, adding unwanted risk to channel expansion investments.”  

 

For more information, please contact:

Canalys EMEA: +44 118 984 0520
Ben Stanton: ben_stanton@canalys.com +44 118 984 0525
Kelly Wheeler: kelly_wheeler@canalys.com +44 118 984 0529

Canalys APAC (Shanghai): +86 21 2225 2888
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Mo Jia: mo_jia@canalys.com +86 158 0076 4291 

Canalys APAC (Singapore): +65 6671 9399
Rushabh Doshi: rushabh_doshi@canalys.com +65 9820 0071
Shengtao Jin: shengtao_jin@canalys.com +65 9113 7976

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Vincent Thielke: vincent_thielke@canalys.com +1 650 656 9016
Marcy Ryan: marcy_ryan@canalys.com +1 650 681 4487

About Canalys

Canalys is an independent analyst company that strives to guide clients on the future of the technology industry and to think beyond the business models of the past. We deliver smart market insights to IT, channel and service provider professionals around the world. We stake our reputation on the quality of our data, our innovative use of technology and our high level of customer service.

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