Online Smartphone Shipments in India Reach Their Highest Ever Share in Q1: Counterpoint

Smartphone shipments from the online channel reached their highest ever share of 43 percent during the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, a Counterpoint Research report said on Monday.

According to Counterpoint's 'Market Monitor' report, online channel shipments grew 17 percent year-on-year (YoY) in Q1 driven by new launches, sales events and lucrative offers.

However, smartphone shipments in the offline segment declined by 4 percent.

"Price cuts of popular devices and more launches drove online channel shipments to the highest ever level in Q1 2019. Xiaomi's Redmi 6A, Note 6 and 7 series, Samsung's online exclusive M series, Realme 3, Honor 10 Lite, and Asus ZenFone Max Pro series were the major contributors for the growth," Anshika Jain, Research Analyst, Counterpoint Research, said in a statement.

Smartphone brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Realme, and Asus contributed most for Flipkart and accounted for more than four-fifths of its total smartphone shipments.

Though Flipkart led the overall online market with 53 percent share, on the other hand Amazon India grew faster in Q1 2019 with 38 percent YoY growth.

Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, and OnePlus drove Amazon's growth.

Amazon's contribution also reached its highest ever level in the online premium smartphone segment with a share of 81 percent due to sales of OnePlus, Samsung and Apple.