India’s smartphone market just had its worst quarter in six years

According to a new report by Counterpoint Research (CR), the Indian smartphone market between January and March had its weakest quarter in six years. Shipments fell 3% compared to the first quarter of last year.

vivo still leads, amassing 20.8% of the pie, followed by Samsung (17.4%), Oppo (13.6%), Apple (9%), Realme (8.9%), Xiaomi (7.9%), Poco (4.2%), iQOO (2.6%), and OnePlus (1.8%). The biggest growth came from Nothing (including the CMF sub-brand): 47%. The fastest growing brand in the premium (above INR 45,000) segment was Google, at 39% growth, interestingly enough. Neither of these two was in the Top 5, however.

Oppo grew 8% year-on-year and was the fastest-growing brand in the Top 5. Growth was unsurprisingly led by good performance from the A and K series, but the mid-range Reno models also did well. Xiaomi’s INR 10,000-20,000 segment had double-digit growth.

A couple of notes regarding the image above: first, we don’t know why Apple isn’t featured in the pie; second, CR extracts sub-brands from the main brand as you can see, publishing the numbers separately, but this presentation doesn’t necessarily mean that Poco was sixth (or seventh, if we include Apple) in sales in Q1. The sub-brands’ market share is shown for informational purposes only.

CR researchers predict a double-digit sales decline in Q2 compared to Q2 2025, “as elevated memory prices and weak entry-level demand continue to weigh on overall volumes”. For the full year, the market is projected to decline by 10% compared to 2025, as memory prices continue to impact affordability and lengthen replacement cycles.

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