Smartphone shipments in India increased in Q4 2021 despite supply chain constraints, with Realme and vendors outside the top five driving growth, Canalys reported.

Shipments grew 2 per cent year-on-year to 44.5 million units. Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasi stated competition intensified as new players emerged in the low-end segment, with many gaining momentum in Q4.

Chaurasi noted the JioPhone Next made a strong start with several million units sold, and Infinix Mobile and Tecno Mobile efficiently used brand promotional campaigns on e-commerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart.

Vendors were forced to adapt to the changing environment by focusing on omni-channel, diversifying supply chains and expanding their product mix, he explained.

Realme’s shipments grew 49 per cent to 7.6 million units, moving it to third from fifth with market share increased 5 percentage points to 17 per cent.

Vendors falling into the others category posted 263.2 per cent growth to 8.5 million units, more than doubling the market share to 19 per cent.

Xiaomi’s shipments dropped 22.5 per cent to 9.3 million, maintaining top position despite market share declining from 27 per cent to 21 per cent.

Samsung remained second on shipments of 8.5 million units, down 7.6 per cent, for a 19 per cent share versus 21 per cent.

Vivo fell from third to fourth with a 27.3 per cent decline to 5.6 million units leaving it with a 13 per cent share compared with 18 per cent.

Oppo remained in fifth with an 11 per cent share down from 14 per cent as it shipments fell 19.7 per cent to 4.9 million.

Full year shipments grew 12 per cent to 162 million units. Chaurasi stated the market was “plagued” by the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic “volatile consumer demand and supply chain disruptions”.