Counterpoint: Vivo is now bigger than Samsung in India

Based on the latest market report by Counterpoint Research, Vivo has bested Samsung as the second biggest smartphone brand in India.

File photo: Vivo S1 Pro

Strong Q4 performance by Vivo

Between Q4 2018 and Q4 2019, Vivo's market share jumped by 132 percent. It is equivalent to 21 percent of the market share which is 2 points higher than the 19 percent of Samsung.

Samsung, the South Korean brand which once led the market share in India, dropped to the 3rd spot.

According to Counterpoint, the reason behind Vivo's successful year is its aggressive positioning of the budget S series of smartphones. Those phones are priced between the USD 100 to 150, a sweet spot in India. This is for both the brick and mortar market and e-commerce sales.

Xiaomi, on the other hand, has widened its lead over its competitors with 27 percent of the market share.

The other brands in the top 5 are OPPO and realme at numbers 4 and 5, respectively. OPPO had a 96 percent YoY (Year-on-Year) growth to beat realme.

Realme is still steadily growing with 15 percent YoY growth and that is still considered as great for the turning 2 mobile brand.

Counterpoint also reported that India's smartphone market has surpassed USA for the first time on an annual level to become the second-largest smartphone market in the world.

India reached 158 million shipments in 2019 with 7 percent YoY growth.

Source: Counterpoint