IDC figures indicated India’s smartphone market was broadly flat year-on-year in 2023 with 146 million units shipped, with a weak H1 offset by strength in H2 fuelled by several new model launches.

The research company noted shipments in H2 2023 grew 11 per cent year-on-year, with 37 million units shipped in Q4 alone. This compensated for a 10 per cent decline in the first half of the year.

Assessing the overall market, IDC explained consumer demand remained stressed, leading to excess inventory levels across channels despite price corrections and schemes by vendors.  

It noted 79 million 5G smartphones shipped across 2023 and almost 1 million foldables. Samsung led the latter segment, though it faced increased competition from Lenovo-owned Motorola, Tecno, OnePlus and Oppo. 

The feature phone segment grew by 8 per cent to 61 million units after declining for four years, with Reliance Jio’s 4G feature phone a driving factor.  

Samsung was the market’s leading vendor with a 17 per cent market share, down 1.1 per cent and Vivo took second place with 15.2 per cent, up from 14.1 per cent. IDC noted the Chinese company was the only player “to register growth among the top five brands”. 

Realme followed with a 12.5 per cent share, followed by Xiaomi (12.4 per cent) and Oppo (10.3 per cent).

The research outfit added Apple enjoyed “a stellar year” with 9 million units sold, giving it a 6.4 per cent share.

IDC estimates flat to low-single-digit growth this year.