Xiaomi shipped over 7mn 5G phones in India in two years, Samsung tops market share

China-based electronics manufacturer Xiaomi said on Wednesday that it has shipped more than 7 million 5G smartphones in India, between May 2020 and 2022’s June quarter. The company cited data from market research firm, International Data Corporation (IDC)’s latest quarterly mobile phones tracker published on August 8, which pegs Xiaomi as the third highest shipper of 5G smartphones in the country. 

According to IDC data, India has seen 51 million 5G smartphones being shipped to the country between January 2020 and June 2022. Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president of devices research at IDC India, South-Asia and Australia-New Zealand, said that Samsung was the top brand in terms of 5G smartphone shipments in India, with a 24% overall market share. 

Samsung is estimated to have shipped approximately 12.2 million 5G smartphones in India, during the mentioned period. According to IDC, Vivo sits in second place for 5G smartphone shipments by volume, between Samsung and Xiaomi. However, it is not clear as to how many 5G smartphones Vivo has shipped in India so far. 

While close to half of all Samsung smartphone shipments in India were 5G-enabled, a quarter of all phones Xiaomi ships in India are 5G devices, as of now. 

Talking about the company’s plans for expanding its 5G smartphone portfolio in India, a Xiaomi spokesperson told Mint on August 1 that the company already has 5G smartphones priced at around ₹15,000 in India, and “will continue to build on that” as the demand for 5G devices increase once telecom operators roll out consumer services. 

5G services are expected to become the key driver of demand for new smartphones in India, which has taken a dip for the first time in history. While shipments have declined sequentially for four straight months, industry analysts state that if 5G services are priced affordably, the demand to upgrade devices could help the Indian smartphone industry witness a spurt of growth in the coming quarters. 

Tarun Pathak, research director at market research firm Counterpoint India, highlighted in a previous Mint report that smartphone sellers in India have a target user base of around 250 million users, who could upgrade their devices to 5G-ready smartphones in the immediate future. 

IDC’s latest report projected that India could have around 90 million 5G smartphones, while a further 100 million 5G devices could be added to device shipments in India by end-2023. It is this demand that the likes of Samsung, Vivo and Xiaomi will attempt to target.