India’s smartphone market posted double-digit growth in the first quarter of 2020, but Canalys expects shipments to plunge in Q2 as vendors face supply and demand issues resulting from the country’s Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdown, which started in late March.

Shipments in Q1 grew 11.5 per cent year-on-year to 33.5 million units.

Market leader Xiaomi’s share dipped slightly to 30.6 per cent after shipments rose 8.4 per cent to 10.3 million units (see chart below, click to enlarge). Vivo’s shipments jumped 48.9 per cent, boosting its share by nearly 5 percentage points to 19.9 per cent and moving ahead of Samsung into second place.

The South Korean vendor’s shipments fell 13.7 per cent, pushing its share down 5.5 percentage points to 18.9 per cent.

Realme booked 200 per cent growth in shipments, with its market share more than doubling to 11.7 per cent, propelling it into fourth ahead of Oppo, which increased shipments by 22.4 per cent and fell to fifth despite its share rising slightly.

Canalys analyst Madhumita Chaudhary noted while the lockdown had been eased in parts of the country and the government works out an exit strategy, the availability of workers, which depends heavily on opening state borders and allowing public transport, will be a key issue for vendors and ODMs.

Additional regulations due to the pandemic are likely to slow the reopening of factories across India, directly impacting production capacity, she explained.

He noted, however, consumer demand is likely to be more robust as buyers look to shift to online channels as they stay away from physical outlets.