With 511% annual growth, is Realme emerging as the king of India's smartphone market?

Realme's popularity in India may be skyrocketing to the extent that it could pose a serious threat to Xiaomi in the future. According to research firm CMR, Realme along with OnePlus, Vivo and Oppo had a combined market share of 42 per cent in India's smartphone market between July - September 2019. But for now, Xiaomi remains the market leader, with one in four users purchasing a Xiaomi smartphone (26 per cent share), CMR said.

Although BBK (that brand that owns Realme, OnePlus, Vivo and Oppo) as a whole grew 23 per cent year-over-year, the main talking point of the CMR report has to be Realme's whopping 511 per cent year-over-year growth. Realme's growth during the quarter was driven by Realme C2, Realme 5 and realme 3i phones. These devices together contributed to 66 per cent of Realme’s total shipments in the quarter, as per the report.

The rise of BBK group

"The major highlight for the quarter is the sheer dominance of the BBK Group, that now accounts for a bulk of the play in the smartphone market across price tiers through clever market segmentation strategy aimed at varied consumer personas," Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, said.

Following Realme, Vivo recorded 87 per cent growth, as per the CMR data. Vivo's shipments were driven by the Y and S series whereas Vivo Y17, Vivo Y91i and Vivo S1 contributed to over 40 per cent of its shipments during the quarter. Meanwhile, Oppo registered 44 per cent of year-over-year growth, courtesy of Oppo A3s, Oppo A5s and Oppo A5, together contributing to 45 per cent of Oppo's overall shipments.

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During the Q3 2019, India's smartphone market saw an 8 per cent increase in terms of sale. CMR said that 8 out of 9 smartphones shipped in India were sold by the top five smartphone vendors during the stipulated period.

But apart from BBK, players such as Nokia and Apple have also made their ways into the top 10 smartphone leaderboard. While Nokia's smartphone shipments grew by 74 per cent year-on-year, Apple returned to the top-10 with a 28 per cent year-over-year growth, CMR said.

Photo: Saurabh Singh