India Smartphone Shipments Dip 5 Percent YoY in Q1 2022: IDC

India smartphone shipments declined for the third consecutive quarter, with a drop of five percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, according to a report. While Xiaomi maintained its leadership in the market, all top-five vendors except Realme saw a decline in their shipments in the quarter. Key reasons for the dip are believed to be the impact of the third wave of COVID-19, supply constraints especially for the low-end price segments, and rising inflation that is increasing the cost of ownership of phones across price segments.

Smartphone shipments in the country dropped to 37 million units in the first quarter, according to the latest report by market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Xiaomi continued to lead the market, though its share and shipments both dropped in the quarter over the same quarter last year. Per IDC, the company's shipments declined by 18 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022. However, Xiaomi continued to dominate the online channel, with a 32 percent share (including Poco).

In the 5G segment, IDC reports that Xiaomi came second. The Mi 11i and Redmi Note 11T were some of the key volume drivers for the Chinese company.

After Xiaomi, Samsung continued to be in second position, but with a decline of five percent year-on-year in the first quarter. The South Korean giant managed to grow demand for its Galaxy S22 series. It also led the 5G segment, with a 29 percent share. Key models in the segment were the Galaxy M32 5G and Galaxy A22 5G, according to IDC.

Realme — one of the youngest brands by Guangzhou-based BBK Electronics — became the third-largest vendor in the market. It marked a growth of 46 percent year-on-year. The company also had the lowest average selling price of $142 (roughly Rs. 11,000).

Additionally, Realme retained its second position in the online space after Xiaomi, with a share of 23 percent in the first quarter, IDC said.

Unlike all the other leading players in the market, Realme managed to mark a 46.3 percent year-on-year growth in the first quarter, the report shows.

Vivo, Realme's sibling and another brand by BBK Electronics, was at the fourth spot, with its shipments declined 17 percent year-on-year. The Chinese company led the offline channel with 24 percent share in the first quarter, though with the launch of its new T-series and iQoo phones, it is likely to see some growth in its online shipments as well.

Oppo — the biggest subsidiary of BBK Electronics and once the parent of Realme — fell 25 percent in the first quarter, per IDC's report.

Smartphone shipments of top-five players in the market as per IDC

Apart from the vendor-wise shipments, IDC mentioned some other interesting insights in its report. It said that the pandemic-induced surge in e-commerce shares over the past two years subsided with a marginal decline to 49 percent in the first quarter. Nevertheless, shipments through online channels continue to grow at a rate of seven percent year-on-year, whereas offline channel shipments declined by 13 percent year-on-year.

Average selling prices of smartphones in the country also continued to rise for the fourth consecutive quarter to as high as $211 (roughly Rs. 16,300). While MediaTek-powered models had a share of 51 percent at an average selling price of $174 (roughly Rs. 13,500), Qualcomm increased its share to 28 percent with an average selling price of $244 (roughly Rs. 18,900), according to IDC.

The firm also reported that the mid-range premium smartphone segment — between $300–$500 (roughly Rs. 23,200–38,700) marked the highest year-on-year growth of 75 percent, while the premium segment grew 33 percent year-on-year, with a share of five percent in the market. The latter was dominated by Apple that had 60 percent of total shipments in the segment. The sub-$200 (roughly Rs. 15,500), on the other hand, dropped by 16 percent, while the mid-range segment of $200–$300 grew to 18 percent from 14 percent in the first quarter.

Upasana Joshi, Researcher Manager for Client Devices at IDC India, said that 5G accounted for 31 percent of shipments with an average selling price of $375 (roughly Rs. 29,000) in the last quarter.

"IDC estimates that shipments beyond $300 will be fully 5G by the end of 2022," the researcher said.

On the part of future performance, Navkendar Singh, Research Director for Client Devices and Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions (IPDS) at IDC India, said that the outlook for 2022 remained cautious from the consumer demand side.

"Due to rising inflation and lengthening of the smartphone refresh cycle, IDC expects 2Q22 also to remain muted, while smartphone supplies gradually return to normal, resulting in a slower 1H22 compared to 72 million shipments in 1H21," he said.

Last month, a report by Counterpoint showed that smartphone shipments in India saw a one percent year-on-year decline in the quarter ending March. Strategy Analytics in its report published late last month also showed a three percent year-on-year decline in the smartphone shipments in the country.

In addition to the India market, shipment shipments globally also dipped in the last quarter for the third time in a row, according to recent reports by Strategy Analytics and Counterpoint.