Canalys is ready with its report on the Indian market for the 4th quarter of last year and the whole of 2022. This is the first time that we saw a drop in shipments in the 4th quarter compared to the 3rd quarter. Year-over-year, volumes in the final quarter fell by an astounding 27%, pushing the overall result for the year down 6% compared to 2021.
For the first time in 20 quarters, Samsung took the top spot as the largest smartphone vendor for the first time since 2017, dethroning Xiaomi. However, the latter will remain at the top throughout the year 2022.
Although Samsung’s 2022 shipments fell by 21%, it managed to secure the largest share of the Indian market in Q4 with a 21% share – up 2 percentage points year-on-year. vivo increased its sales the most among major suppliers – shipments grew 13% to secure a 20% share of the market and second place.
Xiaomi slipped to third place in Q4 with a whopping 40% drop in sales, barely managing to stay ahead of Oppo, which saw 10% growth and came just 100,000 units off Xiaomi’s performance.
Realme fared even worse in Q4, delivering only a third of what it managed in the same quarter of 2021, falling to a rather distant fifth place.
| Selling | Q4 2022 shipments (millions) | 4th quarter 2022 market share | Q4 2021 shipments (millions) | Market share in the 4th quarter of 2021 | Annual growth |
| Samsung | 6.7 | 21% | 8.5 | 19% | -21% |
| vivo | 6.4 | 20% | 5.6 | 13% | 13% |
| Xiaomi | 5.5 | 17% | 9.0 | 20% | -40% |
| Oppo | 5.5 | 17% | 5.0 | 11% | 9% |
| Rich | 2.7 | 8% | 7.6 | 17% | -65% |
| Others | 5.7 | 18% | 8.5 | 19% | -32% |
| Total | 32.4 | 100% | 44.2 | 100% | -27% |
Looking at 2022 as a whole, Xiaomi still leads the pack with a 20% share, but again lost the most ground – losing over a quarter of its shipments.
Samsung is second, just like it was in 2021, but the gap has narrowed from 10 million to 1 million units shipped. vivo is also much closer in third place, with sales remaining largely unchanged year-over-year.
Oppo was the only one in the top 5 to record more sales in 2022 than in 2021, helping it overtake sister brand Realme for fourth place.
| Selling | 2022 shipments (millions) | 2022 market share | 2021 shipments (millions) | 2021 market share | Annual growth |
| Xiaomi | 29.6 | 20% | 40.2 | 25% | -26% |
| Samsung | 28.6 | 19% | 30.1 | 19% | -5% |
| vivo | 25.4 | 17% | 25.8 | 16% | -2% |
| Oppo | 22.6 | 15% | 20.9 | 13% | 8% |
| Rich | 20.9 | 14% | 24.3 | 15% | -14% |
| Others | 24.5 | 16% | 20.2 | 13% | 22% |
| Total | 151.6 | 100% | 161.5 | 100% | -6% |
Canalys says that Oppo and vivo owe their more positive performances to the more successful operations through the uneventful festive season in India. Their focus on offline channels helped them avoid sharing the fate of the others when e-commerce took the biggest hit.
Analysts claim that 2023 will be slow due to the deepening global economic crisis, but in 2024 the Indian market will return to growth.
