The latest IDC report has explained how Vivo has captured the #1 spot in India’s smartphone market in 2024 by strategically leveraging its strong offline presence, offering a diverse product portfolio across price segments, and maintaining solid channel partnerships.
Vivo has achieved 16.6 percent share in the India smartphone market as compared with 13.2 percent for Samsung. Vivo had 15.2 percent share in 2023 vs 17 percent share for Samsung.
Key Factors Behind Vivo’s Success:
While Samsung led in online sales, Vivo dominated the offline market, which still accounts for a significant portion of smartphone sales in India. Its wide distribution network helped maintain steady growth.
Vivo offered devices across all price segments, from budget-friendly models to mid-range and premium phones, catering to a broad customer base.
The Vivo Y28 and Vivo T3X were among the most shipped 5G smartphones, reflecting the brand’s focus on affordable 5G adoption.
Vivo maintained strong relationships with retailers and distributors, ensuring product availability and aggressive marketing at the point of sale.
With price cuts, discounts, and “No Cost EMI” options for up to 24 months, Vivo made its smartphones more accessible, especially in the mid-range segment.
By executing this well-rounded approach, Vivo surpassed Samsung and secured the top spot in India’s competitive smartphone market in 2024.
The size of India smartphone market was 151 million units (up 4 percent) in 2024. In Q4, shipment fell 3 percent to 36 million units.
India became the fourth largest market for Apple in 2024, after USA, China, and Japan. Apple iPhone shipments reached 12 million (up 35 percent) in India. In 4Q24, Apple entered the Top 5 brands in India for the first time with a 10 percent share. iPhone 15 and iPhone 13 were the highest shipped models, accounting for 6 percent of overall shipments during the quarter.
5G smartphone market
The size of the 5G smartphone market in India was 120 million in the year. The share of 5G smartphone shipments increased to 79 percent, up from 55 percent in 2023. 5G smartphone ASPs declined by 19 percent to US$303. Within 5G, shipments of the mass budget (US$100<US$200) segment almost doubled, reaching 47 percent share. Xiaomi Redmi 13C, Apple iPhone 15, vivo Y28, Apple iPhone 13, and vivo T3X were the most shipped 5G models in 2024.
Baburajan Kizhakedath