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<\/p>\nAccording to a new report by IDC today, India’s smartphone market declined in shipment volume by 4.1% in the first quarter of this year (January to March). The total amount shipped during that quarter was 31 million units. Despite the falling volume, the market actually grew by 5.8% in value.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, IDC says “rising memory prices drove brands to front-load channel inventory ahead of anticipated cost escalations, pushing shipment volumes above initial expectations”. Even so, “consumer demand remained subdued”, weighed down by elevated device prices and “cautious spending sentiment”.<\/p>\n
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As you can see, vivo still leads the pack in India, with a 19.6% market share for Q1 of this year compared to 19.7% in the year-ago quarter. Its shipments have fallen pretty much in line with the overall market. Samsung is second with flat sales and a 17.1% market share, followed by Oppo with the biggest sales growth year-on-year: 22%, for a market share of 15.3%.<\/p>\n
Apple is in fourth and like vivo its sales dropped almost exactly in tune with the market overall, while Motorola is the second-best performer in terms of growth after Oppo, hitting 14% year-on-year and reaching a market share of 8.9%. Realme is in sixth with 20% less shipments, Xiaomi is in seventh with a minor 3% growth, Poco is in eighth with a 14% fall in shipments, followed by iQOO with an even bigger 23% decline.<\/p>\n
That said, no brand has done worse than OnePlus this quarter, which had the biggest sales decline at 32% less versus Q1 2025. OnePlus now has just 1.7% market share, and it used to be 2.4% just one year ago.<\/p>\n
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IDC says “consumers in sub-$100 brackets are being pushed upmarket by necessity rather than aspiration” and this is a trend that “reshapes demand forecasting for 2026 and beyond”. Companies that rely a lot on selling a lot of entry-level devices “face shrinking margins and reduced market viability” as memory prices continue to rise.<\/p>\n
Under-$100 phone sales dropped 59% year-on-year, while the biggest increases came from the $600-800 segment (up 32%), the $400-600 segment (up 29%), and the $100-200 segment (up 10%). The average selling price in Q1 was $302, which is an all-time record. Interestingly, offline sales have a 62% share of the pie, with online sales making up 38%, the latter being down from 42%.<\/p>\n