<p class="title">Chinese handset maker Xiaomi overtook Samsung to become the top player in the Indian smartphone market in the December quarter, ending the Korean company's 6-year dominance, reports by Canalys and Counterpoint Research said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samsung asserted however that it is "India's Number 1 smartphone company by a distance". According to Counterpoint's report, Xiaomi has grown its market share to 25% in the fourth quarter of 2017, up from 9% in the year-ago period.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samsung, on the other hand, saw its market share falling to 23% in the latest October-December quarter, from 24% a year ago. The top 5 tally also included Lenovo, Vivo and Oppo.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For the entire 2017, Samsung managed to hold on to the top position with 24% share, followed by Xiaomi with 19% share, Counterpoint data stated.</p>.<p class="bodytext">During the second half, players such as Xiaomi were particularly disruptive with aggressively-priced, broad portfolio taken to market with an effective channel expansion strategy, Counterpoint Research Associate Director Tarun Pathak said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This helped Xiaomi surpass the long-time market leader, Samsung, for the first time ever. This performance ended Samsung's six-year market dominance," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pathak also noted that Xiaomi ended 2017 in India on a very strong note. "Not only did the brand grow 259 per cent year-on-year, but it also saw three of its models within the top five bestselling smartphone list of 2017," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samsung had the most number of models in the top 10 selling list, leveraging its advantage of a strong presence across all the price bands, Pathak said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Canalys, in its report, said Xiaomi led the smartphone tally in the fourth quarter with shipments close to 8.2 million units (27% market share), compared to Samsung's more that 7.3 million smartphones (25 per cent share) shipments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Canalys attributed Xiaomi's success to the player's localisation in channel strategy, marketing and products in the Indian market.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I believe our constant innovation across products, operating model and commitment to India has helped us win over our Mi fans. India is a key market for us and we will continue to launch new products and product categories for Indian Mi fans," Xiaomi India MD Manu Jain said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A Samsung India spokesperson cited data from research firm GfK -- which tracks sales to end consumers -- to say Samsung had a 45% value market share and 40% volume market share in November 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Samsung is a full range player and lead the smartphone business across every segment of the Indian market in 2017," the spokesperson said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Canalys said the total smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter were under 30 million units, while Counterpoint said the number was about 32 million. </p>
<p class="title">Chinese handset maker Xiaomi overtook Samsung to become the top player in the Indian smartphone market in the December quarter, ending the Korean company's 6-year dominance, reports by Canalys and Counterpoint Research said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samsung asserted however that it is "India's Number 1 smartphone company by a distance". According to Counterpoint's report, Xiaomi has grown its market share to 25% in the fourth quarter of 2017, up from 9% in the year-ago period.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samsung, on the other hand, saw its market share falling to 23% in the latest October-December quarter, from 24% a year ago. The top 5 tally also included Lenovo, Vivo and Oppo.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For the entire 2017, Samsung managed to hold on to the top position with 24% share, followed by Xiaomi with 19% share, Counterpoint data stated.</p>.<p class="bodytext">During the second half, players such as Xiaomi were particularly disruptive with aggressively-priced, broad portfolio taken to market with an effective channel expansion strategy, Counterpoint Research Associate Director Tarun Pathak said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This helped Xiaomi surpass the long-time market leader, Samsung, for the first time ever. This performance ended Samsung's six-year market dominance," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Pathak also noted that Xiaomi ended 2017 in India on a very strong note. "Not only did the brand grow 259 per cent year-on-year, but it also saw three of its models within the top five bestselling smartphone list of 2017," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Samsung had the most number of models in the top 10 selling list, leveraging its advantage of a strong presence across all the price bands, Pathak said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Canalys, in its report, said Xiaomi led the smartphone tally in the fourth quarter with shipments close to 8.2 million units (27% market share), compared to Samsung's more that 7.3 million smartphones (25 per cent share) shipments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Canalys attributed Xiaomi's success to the player's localisation in channel strategy, marketing and products in the Indian market.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I believe our constant innovation across products, operating model and commitment to India has helped us win over our Mi fans. India is a key market for us and we will continue to launch new products and product categories for Indian Mi fans," Xiaomi India MD Manu Jain said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A Samsung India spokesperson cited data from research firm GfK -- which tracks sales to end consumers -- to say Samsung had a 45% value market share and 40% volume market share in November 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Samsung is a full range player and lead the smartphone business across every segment of the Indian market in 2017," the spokesperson said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Canalys said the total smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter were under 30 million units, while Counterpoint said the number was about 32 million. </p>