India's Smartphone Sales Fell 13 Percent During Second COVID-19 Wave: Canalys

Xiaomi continued to be the top brand favoured by buyers with a 29 percent market share.

By Reuters | Updated: 22 July 2021 14:53 IST

India's Smartphone Sales Fell 13 Percent During Second COVID-19 Wave: Canalys

South Korea's Samsung Electronics at 17 percent share in the smartphones market

Highlights

Smartphone vendors in India had assumed COVID-19 would not return
The country will see a rebound in the second half of this year
The threat of a third wave of COVID-19 infections still looms in India

India's smartphone sales fell 13 percent in the second quarter compared with the previous one as a second wave of COVID-19 infections hurt demand in the world's No. 2 smartphone market, a research report said on Thursday.

Online smartphones purchases, however, helped sales surge 87 percent compared with a year earlier, according to market research firm Canalys.

"Smartphone vendors in India had assumed COVID-19 would not return, and several planned to invest in infrastructure for branded stores and partnerships with third-party offline channels. But once again they were quickly compelled to pivot to an online strategy," Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia wrote in the report.

What Is the Best Premium Flagship Phone That You Should Buy Right Now?

China's Xiaomi continued to be the top brand favoured by Indian buyers with a 29 percent market share, followed by South Korea's Samsung Electronics at 17 percent share, Canalys said.

Chaurasia predicted the country will see a rebound in the second half of this year as vaccinations boost consumer confidence and as smartphone brands launch new products.

As the threat of a third wave of COVID-19 infections still looms in India, customer behaviour and industrial operations will continue to adjust to pandemic conditions, helping reduce the impact, the analyst wrote.

Global Smartphone Shipments to Grow 12 Percent in 2021: Canalys

© Thomson Reuters 2021

The recently-concluded first season of Loki is our focus this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.