China-Based BBK Group Maintains Lead Over Xiaomi, Samsung Bags Second Place

China-based BBK group maintained its lead over Xiaomi for the calendar year 2019 in India with registering 34 per cent overall market share, with Xiaomi logging 29 per cent share, a new India smartphone market report said on Monday.

BBK Group brands like Vivo garnered 16 per cent (84 per YoY growth) market share, followed by realme at 10 per cent (a massive 246 per cent growth) and OPPO at 8 per cent (17 per cent YoY growth), according to the CMR 'Mobile Handset Review Report.'

Samsung was at the second place with 23 per cent share for the full calendar year while another BBK group brand known as OnePlus (54 per cent) were among the fastest-growing smartphone brands.

"In the year ahead, Xiaomi has to execute its new multi-brand strategy in India well, for it to take the BBK Group onslaught head-on. In 2019, the BBK Group brands were among the fastest-growing smartphone brands in India," said Anand Priya Singh, Analyst, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR.

In 2019, the India smartphone market grew at 7 per cent, with the top five smartphone vendors now accounting for 86 per cent of the smartphones shipped in India.

Xiaomi grew 5 per cent (YoY), driven by its successful Redmi Note series.

"In 2020, Xiaomi will have to develop creative market strategies to hold on its existing user base, as well as look at acquiring new ones. Specifically, with its new multi-brand strategy, it must ensure avoiding cannibalization within the group's product portfolio," said the report.

After gaining market share with ite Redmi brand, Xiaomi is set to launch another product under the new POCO brand — X2 — on February 4.

The BBK Group is also set to launch a premium brand iQOO this month as the fight gets intensified despite Coronavirus fears which may hamper shipments.

The CMR report said that Samsung "would need to intensify its market approach, by targeting various consumer personas with aggressively priced new devices".

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Realme enjoyed a YoY growth of 246 per cent, made possible by its strong product portfolio that brought forth industry-leading specs at aggressive value for money pricepoints, and backed by a strong market push, the report added. (IANS)