Xiaomi soars as India’s smartphone boom reaches record high

Xiaomi started making its Android-based phones in 2011.

India saw a record high 109.1 million smartphones shipped in 2016 – up from 102.7 million in 2015 – as consumers continued their rapid changeover from flip phones to smartphones, shows data from IDC.

However, those old flip phones outshone smartphones, with 136.1 million shipped last year. That defied analysts’ predictions that 2016 would be the year smartphones took over.

This is the final standing:

• 1st: Samsung, 24.8 percent share of new smartphone shipments
• 2nd: Lenovo and Motorola, 14.8 percent
• 3rd: Micromax, 8.8 percent
• 4th: Reliance Jio, 7.1 percent
• 5th: Xiaomi, 6.6 percent

India’s Micromax cannot be entirely satisfied with its podium position as it registered the largest year-on-year drop in shipments among the leading phone makers, causing it to fall from 2015’s second spot. Reliance Jio, meanwhile, had a strong year on the back of the telco rolling out India’s first truly nationwide 4G network.

Chinese brands crushing it

Xiaomi’s debut in India’s top five – thanks to a 119 percent surge from the year prior – points to what’s set to be the biggest trend in smartphones in the nation the rest of this year: Chinese brands.

Indeed, India’s holiday quarter saw Chinese brands take up all the top five behind Samsung, according to IDC (Xiaomi, Lenovo/Motorola, Oppo, Vivo, in descending order). This time next year, we could be looking at zero Indian brands on the leaderboard.

Hugo Barra in India in 2016, celebrating selling one million phones during Diwali. Photo credit: Hugo’s Facebook.

Xiaomi’s good news in India comes weeks after Hugo Barra, the Chinese startup’s high-profile hire from Google’s Android team, left the company to return to Silicon Valley. Barra served as the face of Xiaomi outside China, and had been particularly active in India since Xiaomi launched there mid-2014.

But Xiaomi has to keep an eye over its shoulders. Compatriot rivals Oppo and Vivo showed stronger growth in India’s closing three months.