Xiaomi leads India smartphone market in Q1, Covid to hit Q2

The report cautioned that the second quarter is likely to be impacted owing to the lethal second Covid wave.

Samsung with 20 per cent market share was second, growing the highest at 52 per cent (YoY) while Vivo was third with 16 per cent share, according to the latest research from Counterpoint's Market Monitor service.

realme was fourth with 11 per cent market share.

"Continuing with its stellar run, India's smartphone market registered a third consecutive quarter of record shipments in Q1 2021, riding on pent-up demand. Consumer confidence also increased due to the beginning of a vaccination drive in the country," said Senior Research Analyst Prachir Singh.

"But these numbers should be taken with caution as a second and more virulent wave of COVID-19 is currently on in the country and is likely to impact the coming quarters," he cautioned.

The Chinese brands held a 75 per cent share in the March-ended quarter.

"Samsung maintained a high number of new product launches in its Galaxy M-series, Galaxy F-series as well as the Galaxy S21 series during the quarter. Besides, realme launched its 8 series, OnePlus announced its 9 series and Xiaomi launched its Redmi Note 10 series that has started well," said Research Analyst Shilpi Jain.

Xiaomi logged 4 per cent YoY growth in Q1 2021 driven by the Redmi 9 series. The Redmi 9A was the best-selling model during the quarter.

OPPO grew 12 per cent YoY and had an 11 per cent market share in Q1 2021.

OnePlus grew more than 300 per cent YoY for Q1 2021 driven by the OnePlus Nord and OnePlus 8T shipments.

India's mobile handset market grew 19 per cent YoY in Q1 2021 due to the strong performance of both feature phone and smartphone segments.

itel led the feature phone market in Q1 2021 with a 21 per cent market share.

The feature phone market registered a 14 per cent YoY growth during the quarter driven by strong shipments of JioPhone under its new model and subsequent promotions.