Chinese smartphone vendors scoop 40% of Indian market: report

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Chinese smartphone vendors have captured about 40 percent of the market share in India, reported Beijing News on Tuesday, citing the latest industry survey.

Smartphone maker Lenovo saw its shipment volume rise to be second only to Samsung in the third quarter of 2016, according to global research firm IDC.

Xiaomi took the third spot with a market share of 10.7 percent. Chinese vendors collectively took up 40 percent, based on a survey across 30 major Indian cities.

/CFP Photo

This advance comes as India's domestic brands saw a decline in market share. Micromax reported a 16.7 percent month-over-month sales drop in October, according to IDC.

Analysts noted that as smartphone giants look at India, a country with a population of 1.34 billion, to be the "new China", the competition will be intense.

Despite growth, price wars remain fierce in what is becoming the world's second-largest smartphone market, where the price of a mobile device averages only 100 US dollars, said IDC.

A man uses mobile phone smiling, in Rajasthan, India. /CFP Photo

Lenovo has retained its duo-brand strategy in India, Rahul Agarwal, the company's managing director, told Beijing News, adding that Motorola is focused on high-end market, taking up a third of its sales, whereas Lenovo phones target the two thirds lower end market.

Indian customers are even more price sensitive than Chinese users, said Ni Fei, co-founder and CEO of Nubia Technology. According to data from the World Bank, China's average gross national income was four times that of India in 2015.

Besides a price war, patent rights and tariffs could also hinder Chinese companies' further growth in India, said analysts, citing patent disputes faced by Chinese smartphone makers OPPO, VIVO, and Xiaomi in recent years.

(Story adapted from China Daily)