Indian smartphone shipments were affected by continued supply constraints in Q1, slowing growth as many vendors struggled to secure components for low-end models, Canalys reported.

Shipments of 38 million units were up 2 per cent year-on-year.

Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia stated component supply remained a challenge for leading vendors Xiaomi and Vivo, while brands including Realme, Tecno Mobile and Itel Mobile “did remarkably well with solid supply to take on the market leaders and fulfil the low-end demand”.

Realme was the only vendor in the top five to register growth, with shipments up 40 per cent to 6 million units and market share rising from 12 per cent in Q1 2021 to 18 per cent.

Xiaomi held top spot with a 21 per cent share down from 28 per cent, after shipments fell 24 per cent to 8 million units.

Samsung’s shipments declined 2 per cent to 6.8 million and its share 1 percentage point to 18 per cent.

Vivo shipments fell 15 per cent to 5.7 million units and Oppo’s 13 per cent to 4.6 million.

Chaurasia predicted “maintaining device affordability” will be vendor’s biggest challenge in 2022 as operating costs rise.

“Oil prices in India are at an all-time high and wholesale inflation remains elevated, at 14.6% in March”.

“Volatility in foreign exchange rates and higher operational costs due to inflation will, in turn, put further pressure on vendors to maintain profitability.”