For a while companies such as Samsung and Apple dominated the smartphone market, but then as more Chinese OEMs got on board the Android bandwagon with value for money handsets, thus slowly overtaking the likes of Samsung and Apple in emerging markets, such as India.
According to the latest figures from Counterpoint and Canalys, it appears that Xiaomi has managed to overtake Samsung in India where they are now the top smartphone seller. The numbers of Counterpoint are particularly interesting because based on their data, Xiaomi commanded a 9% market share in India back in Q4 2016.
However a year later, Xiaomi has since managed to rise to 25% in Q4 2017, making it a massive jump within the span of a year. They have also overtaken Samsung who previously held the top spot at 25%, but has since fallen to 23% in Q4 2017. The differences aren’t much, but like we said with more Chinese OEMs aggressively pushing their budget phones, especially in an emerging market like India, it is possible that Samsung will continue to lose more ground over time.
The data from Canalys also paints a similar picture, where it shows Samsung leading the way in terms of sales, but slowly losing ground to Xiaomi where in Q4 2017 the Chinese company managed to overtake them.