India’s smartphone market started the year with robust growth driven by strong online sales, which accounted for 40 per cent of total shipments in Q1, data from IDC showed.

Smartphone shipments rose 7.1 per cent year-on-year in the quarter to 32.1 million units.

Upasana Joshi, associate research manager at IDC India, said despite the government’s new e-commerce rules, online channels managed to sustain their pace, growing 19.6 per cent in Q1 from a year earlier.

Joshi said online sales were fueled by attractive offers and new launches by Xiaomi, Samsung and Realme.

Market leader Xiaomi maintained its top position, with shipments growing 8.1 per cent year-on-year to 9.8 million units (see chart, click to enlarge).

Samsung remained number two despite a 4.8 per cent decline in shipments to 7.2 million units, while Vivo moved to third place from fourth in Q1 2018 after shipments rose 108 per cent to 4.2 million units, nearly doubling its market share.

Oppo dropped to fourth from a year earlier even though its share inched up marginally and shipments rose 9.7 per cent to 2.4 million units in Q1. China-based Realme came from nowhere to take a 6 per cent share and claim fifth place with 1.9 million units shipped in the quarter.

The average selling price increased 3.3 per cent year-on-year to $161, with the $300 to $500 segment accounting for 6 per cent of the overall market in the quarter. This segment also outgrew all other price bands on the back of the newly launched Vivo V15 Pro, IDC said.

The feature phone segment, accounting for half of the total mobile phone shipments, dropped 42.4 per cent year-on-year to 32.3 million units.