India could be Apple and Samsung’s solution for the future of phones
According to IDC, Vivo represented 15.8% of the Indian phone market in Q3 2024, easily surpassing Samsung. It’s also not new. Vivo is India’s third leading brand as of 2018, according to canal.
It has produced some great phones and pushed the phone camera technology movement in particular, first announcing the use of gimbal sensor stabilization in the Vivo X50 Pro in 2020 and beyond. is pixel shifting in Vivo X60 series.
If you are among those who have never used a Vivo phone before, you might assume that it is a local brand, an Indian brand. That’s not true. Vivo comes from the BBK group of phone makers, along with Oppo, OnePlus, Realme and others. These are all Chinese companies, affiliated with a parent company large enough to create a Lovecraftian shadow. These Chinese brands are responsible for shaping the Indian phone market by 2024.
“Due to cheap data and entry of Chinese brands into India in the last seven, eight years, [Chinese manufacturers] Singh said.
A decade or more ago, trade shows were filled with feature phones made for developing markets like India. The dominance of feature phones has been overthrown and India is now entering a phase where like the West, the public more accepted and are more likely to buy higher priced phones.
“‘Value for money’ is a common sentiment among Indian consumers, but it is rapidly shifting towards buying more premium phones,” said Neil Shah, vice president at CounterPoint Research. ROI is higher than buying a car, house or insurance. Consumers are seeing smartphones more as an investment opportunity.” In India, a phone can sometimes be everything.”
The data backs that up. According to counterpointThe average selling price of a smartphone in India increased from $192 in the third quarter of 2020 to $293 in the same quarter of 2024.
It’s this effect that has helped Apple perform so well in India, with its market share reportedly growing nearly 60% from the third quarter of 2023 to 2024, according to IDC data.
“Considering Apple’s average selling price is so high, it’s a good track record that Apple has done over the past few years,” Singh said. “One of the main reasons is that Apple is considered an aspirational brand in India. It has a brand aura. Everyone loves to buy an iPhone. Not everyone can afford it.”
