The Indian smartphone market has witnessed a dip in Q1 2025, as per the latest report from IDC. A total of 32 million units were shipped in Q1 2025. This marks a decline of 5.5 percent YoY (year-over-year), and also a second consecutive quarter of decline in shipments. The report adds that Apple registered the highest YoY growth of 23 percent among the top 5 brands.
Indian smartphone market declines
- IDC notes that weak consumer demand and surplus inventory from the previous quarter continue to pose challenges.
- The report also says that there were fewer launches in the first two months of the year, with the brands focusing on offering retail support, discounts and price drops on older models to clear inventory. The launches again picked up in March across price segments.
- Vivo secured the top spot with a market share of 19.7 percent, compared to 16.2 percent YoY.
- Samsung settled in the second spot with a 16.4 percet share, marking a decline of 0.6 percent YoY.
- OPPO, Realme, and Apple secured third, fourth, and fifth places, respectively.
- Nothing registered the highest growth overall, followed by Google and Motorola in Q1 2025.
- Apple registered the highest YoY growth of 23 percent among the top 5 brands, shipping a first quarter record of three million units in Q1 2025.
- iPhone 16 is said to be the highest shipped model, accounting for 4 percent of overall India shipments during the quarter.
- The average selling price reached a record of $274 (around Rs 23,300) in Q1 2025, growing by 4 percent YoY.
- The $100-$200 price segment is said to have declined by 21.91 percent YoY, with a 40 percent market share compared to 48 percent a year ago.
- The premium segment ($600~Rs 50,900 – $800~Rs 67,900) registered the highest growth of 78.6 percent, with share up from 2 percent to 4 percent. iPhone 16 is said to have accounted for 32 percent of the shipments in this segment.
- The mid-premium segment ($400~ Rs 34,000 – $600~Rs 50,900) also witnessed a strong growth of 74 percent, with the share reaching 6 percent from 3 percent. IDC notes that Apple and Samsung’s share increased in this segment, courtesy of the iPhone 13 and the Galaxy A56.
- The share of 5G smartphone shipments increased to 88 percent, up from 69 percent in Q1 2024, with ASPs declining by 11 percent YoY to $300.
- It is said that within the 5G segment, the share of low-end (sub $100~8,500) reached 7 percent led by affordable new launches, while 45 percent of the shipments were still within the $100-$200 segment.
- Apple iPhone 16, Xiaomi Redmi 14C, OPPO K12x/A3x and Realme 14x are said to be the highest shipped 5G models in Q1 2025.
- Qualcomm-based shipments grew by 40.8 percent, with a share of 31.8 percent. This is led by the Redmi 14C.
- MediaTek’s share declined to 43.6 percent from 55.3 percent on a shipment decline of 25.5 percent YoY in Q1 2025.
Lastly, the shipments to offline channels grew by 10 percent YoY and share increased to 58.1 percent while online channel shipments declined by 21.1 percent in Q1 2025. The share of online channels strategy by almost all brands, expanding the footprints into smaller towns/cities. Vivo continued to lead in the offline channel, followed by OPPO and Samsung.
Within the online channel, Samsung and Motorola held the first and second slots, respectively. Realme dipped to the third slot compared to the previous quarter. IDC estimates a low single-digit growth in 2025 in terms of shipments, as ASPs continue to rise, leading to a mid-single-digit value growth annually.
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