Xiaomi pips Samsung to become top smartphone seller for Q4 2017 in India

Xiaomi is exploring a public listing and the company is valued at close to $100 billion. Xiaomi officially entered the Indian market three years ago.

 

Samsung electronics was the king of the smartphone hill in India for six years. The new king of the hill is a little company called Xiaomi. According to Counterpoint, Xiaomi's smartphone market share in India for the fourth quarter based on shipment is at 25 percent. Samsung's share on the other hand for the same period lies at 23 percent. Other smartphones makers like Lenovo, Oppo and Vivo each have about 6 percent market share. However, it must be noted that Counterpoint calls Samsung the top seller for the year. The South Korean giant was quite ahead of Xiaomi in the first half of 2017. 
Research firm Canalys said that Xiaomi shipped 8.2 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, while Samsung shipped 7.3 million in the same period.
"Multiple factors have contributed to Xiaomi's growth, but the key reason for its current success lies in the autonomy that it granted its Indian unit, letting it run the business locally," Canalys analyst Ishan Dutt told Reuters.
Xiaomi’s strategy has rested on the shoulders of flash sales on Flipkart and Amazon.in. Xiaomi has forayed into the offline market in India too.
Samsung launched its Galaxy S8, S8 Plus and Note 8 flagship smartphones in 2017 and is expected to showcase the Galaxy S9 at MWC 2018. Xiaomi on the other hand has seen tremendous success in the sub 15k smartphone segment with the Stock Android based Mi A1 and entry level phones like the Redmi 5A, Redmi Note 4 and more.