- Smartphone shipments fell 9% YoY in 2022 in India
- The premium segment brought 35% of total smartphone market revenue in 2022; Apple led this segment
- Samsung led the overall market and 5G smartphones took a 32% share in total shipments this year
As per the latest report by Counterpoint, smartphone shipments in India declined 9% YoY to cross 152 million units in 2022. The yearly decline is the second-ever in the Indian smartphone market history. The fall was led by a significant decline in entry-level and budget segments which faced supply constraints at the beginning of the year and then witnessed lower demand throughout the year, the research pointed out. However, on the upside, 2022 proved to be a good year for premium smartphone sales in India as the segment contributed 11% to India’s smartphone shipments and 35% to market revenue in 2022, the highest ever.
Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service revealed that despite a 9% YoY decline in shipments, India’s smartphone market revenue remained flat overall.
In terms of shipment value, Samsung stood first with a 22% share in 2022. Apple closely followed with an 18% share.
In terms of shipment volume, however, Xiaomi led the market in 2022 with a 20% share, closely followed by Samsung.
5G smartphones witnessed huge demand in India, capturing a 32% share in 2022. The report noted that Samsung became the top-selling 5G brand in 2022 with a 21% share.
Senior research analyst Prachir Singh believed that consumer demand started declining in the second quarter when the global economy was crippled by multiple macroeconomic issues like all-time high inflation, rising unemployment and geopolitical conflicts, affecting India’s economy. “Inventory build-up across channels after the second quarter led to lower-than-expected shipments throughout the second half of the year. We believe that the inventory and demand situation will continue to affect the market in the first half of 2023 before improving in the latter half driven by the festive season and upgrades to 5G devices,” added Mr Singh.
Analysing the price band and the competitive landscape, a research analyst with Counterpoint, Shilpi Jain said, “Despite declining shipments, the premium smartphone market’s share kept rising in 2022 and reached 11%, the highest ever. This paradoxical trend implies that India’s smartphone market is moving from being volume-driven to value-driven. While entry-tier and budget segments were most affected, the premium segment remained immune and showed double-digit growth. OEMs’ increased focus, consumers upgrading for premium features and, most importantly, availability of various financing schemes like ‘No-cost EMI’, ‘Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)’ and ‘Samsung finance+’ boosted this premiumization trend. We believe the momentum for the premium segment will continue in 2023 as well owing to OEMs’ focus and faster consumer upgrades.”
Counterpoint Technology Market Research is a global research firm specializing in products in the TMT (technology, media and telecom) industry. The Market Monitor research relies on sell-in (shipments) estimates based on vendors’ IR results and vendor polling, triangulated with sell-through (sales), supply chain checks and secondary research.
