How are Xiaomi & LYF changing the devices dynamics for Samsung?

The rules of the games are quite simple; players moving with the changing times remain in the race, while others vanish gradually.

Long back till 2014, Nokia ruled the devices segment with around 20% market share followed by Samsung and Micromax. And finally, one fine day Samsung dethroned Nokia from the number 1 slot, owing to Nokia’s reluctance to adopt the android platform.

Today, Samsung also stands in the same spot, with companies like Xiaomi and LYF flexing their muscles on the back of an aggressive marketing campaign and of course, cashing in on the 4G buzz.

According to CMR’s India Monthly Mobile Handset Market Review Report for January 2018, Xiaomi (27%), Samsung (25%) and Lava (8%) topped the smartphone leaderboard.

On the feature phone leaderboard for January, LYF (37.3%), itel (11%) and Samsung (7%) were the winners.

This indicates the gradual decline of Samsung, along with Micromax, from the top slot.

According to Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, “For Samsung to continue maintaining its overall leadership, it would need to increase its shipments in the rest of 1Q 2018 by at least 25-30%. Going forward, Samsung should ramp up its strategy around the growing and increasingly exciting entry-level smartphone segment. Key areas of consideration for Samsung’s strategy would include introduction of 4G feature phones, joining AndroidGo, as well as handset bundling with telcos.”

As per CMR’s India Mobile Monthly Handset Review report, in the 3Q’17 (Jul-Sep) Xiaomi was at par with Samsung in Smartphone shipments, while in 4Q’17 (Oct-Dec), Xiaomi took lead and became the distinct No 1 for the period.

Faisal Kawoosa, Head, New Initiatives, CMR, “As of September 2017, Samsung had 112 to 115 million Smartphone users in India making it the only brand in India which had over 100 million active users. The next in the row, Micromax is distant far at estimated 40 million. Like other Smartphone makers, Samsung must be monetizing this base through low ticket strategies like mobile payments, advertising, etc., where the average revenue per user isn’t substantial. This can only be an add-on revenue.”