Smartphone Market: Chinese smartphone market is declining, shipment lowest in 10 years

New Delhi. There was a time when Chinese smartphones were dominating India. First Xiaomi and then Vivo had captured the Indian market and both these companies were at the number one position for the last decade, but the atmosphere has changed in the year 2026. Now the position of Chinese brands is continuously weakening. In the September quarter, there was the biggest decline in the shipment of Chinese Smartform in 10 years. Omdia, an organization that monitors the mobile market, says that there has been a huge decline of 26 percent in shipments during July-September.

It has been said in the report that due to the increase in prices, customers avoided buying new phones and manufacturers also reduced the supply before the festive season. This is the reason why shipments fell to 3.58 crore units in the third quarter of this year, which is the lowest level of the third quarter since 2016. This decline has also changed the market ranking and now Samsung has overtaken Vivo to take the top position, while the total share of Chinese brands has declined to about 68% from 75% a year ago.

Samsung becomes the new king of the market, Vivo collapses
South Korean company Samsung has shipped 67 lakh phones and again achieved the top position for the first time since the beginning of the year 2024. The company’s affordable Galaxy A-series helped boost sales, while cashback, exchange offers and longer financing plans attracted customers buying phones at different price points. Vivo’s shipments fell 34% to 64 lakh, which is the biggest decline among the top five companies. Repeated price hikes affected retailers’ inventory planning and limited supply of entry-level phones weakened the company’s position.

Xiaomi’s sign is decreasing
The quality of Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi for which it is known also came under pressure. Till now, Xiaomi has been known as a company that provides more features at a lower price, but due to the increasing cost of components, the company had to compromise in terms of prices and memory configuration. This was the reason why the company’s shipment fell by 28% to 47 lakh units. Another Chinese company Oppo shipped 49 lakh units and stood at the third position. However, its shipments also declined by 24%. During this period, Apple shipped 39 lakh phones and stood at fifth position. Demand for the iPhone 16 and base iPhone 17, as well as efforts to stockpile ahead of a potential price increase, have supported shipments.

Mobile market will remain down in future also
Sanyam Chaurasia, Principal Analyst, Omdia, said that due to less exclusive launches, limited number of affordable models and lack of promotional offers, the traditional advantage of online channels in the festive season has reduced. Due to delay in Diwali this year, the decline in quarterly figures was more visible as some offline stock shifted to October for the festive season. These figures reflect supplies delivered to sellers and not purchases made by customers. However, this weakness may persist even after the festive season. There may be a slight further decline in the market in the year 2027 also.