Vivo replaces Samsung as the second most selling smartphone brand in India in Q1 2020

Despite the fact that India entered into a nationwide lockdown in the final week of March, the country’s smartphone market posted excellent results in Q1 of 2020, according to the famous analyst company Canalys. The Q1 of 2020 proved to be an excellent quarter particularly for Vivo as the company for the first time has replaced Samsung as the second most selling smartphone brand in India.

As per Canalys report, the smartphone shipments are up by 12 percent, which translates to 33.5 million units in the first quarter of 2020. With a market share of 30.6 percent and shipping of 10.3 million smartphones in the first quarter, Chinese tech giant Xiaomi is leading the Indian smartphone market. With the shipping of 6.7 million smartphones and 20 percent market share, Vivo stands right behind Xiaomi. The first quarter was not so impressive for Samsung as it’s slipped from being number 2 to number 3 and currently claims an 18.9 percent market share with 6.3 million units shipped.

Realme managed to retain its fourth position with 3.9 million units shipped, while OPPO finished at fifth with 3.5 million units.

However, in the second quarter, smartphone shipments in India will see a dip as the nationwide lockdown is going to remain till May 3. This will create supply- and demand-side issues in the immediate future, according to Canalys.

“While parts of India emerge out of the lockdown and the government works out an exit strategy, worker availability, which depends heavily on opening state borders and allowing public transport, will be a key issue for vendors and ODMs. Additional manpower regulations due to COVID-19, like in China, is likely to slow down resumption activities in factories across India, directly impacting production capacity. Consumer demand, however, is likely to be more robust. Online channels are likely to emerge the winners as public fear of the virus deters consumers from buying offline,” said Canalys Analyst Madhumita Chaudhary.