India’s Smartphone Market Shrinks 8% in Q1 2025 as Xiaomi, Samsung Lose Ground:

India's smartphone market faced a decline of 8%, compared to last year, entering the first quarter of 2025. Currently, the market stands at 32.4 million units, according to research by Canalys. The plummeting demand coupled with high inventory from Xiaomi and Samsung led to a steep decline in all the top performers. As a result, the sluggish demand and high inventory in the channel led to a significant drop in performance.

Xiaomi and Samsung Bear the Brunt

Among the leading competitors, Xiaomi claimed the sharpest drop in shipments, falling by 38% as they lack luster in meeting set targets excluding Poco. This drop leads to a loss in Xiaomi's market share, dropping to 12% instead of 18%. Furthermore, Samsung also gave in to heightened demand threats, dropping year over year by 23% to 5.1 million units, thus losing their share from 19% to 16%.

Sanyam Chaurasia, Sr. Analyst at Canalys states “The early launch of Xiaomi’s Note 14 series did not resonate with buyers because of weak channel sentiment and excess inventory”. Nevertheless, the budget segment was saved by the Redmi 14c 5G.

Vivo and Oppo Claims the Lead

Vivo claimed their leadership by shifting 7 million units and scoring a market share of 22%. In addition, excluding OnePlus, Republic of Korea’s brand Oppo showed a defy in downtrend growth with 5% growth sticking at 3.9 million, breadcrumbing into the 4th position.

Apple Reports Best Q1 in India

Apple’s performance in India surpassed expectations as the company reported their best Q1 performance to date for the region. This was supported by strong sales of the iPhone 16 series due to Republic Day sales as well . The iPhone 16e also did well in Tier 2 and 3 cities as well.

Edge on Premium Samsung Sells Despite Global Drop

Samsung’s premium line of Galaxy S series suffered a broad growth decline amid the broader slowdown, but still reported growth on the previous S24 line, with the S25 seeing a 5% boost due to integration of conversational AI. “Chaurasia observed that premium positioning and the current approach to ecosystem integration are critical to sustaining momentum alongside evolving competition.”

Strategies on Changes of Channel and ASPs are Set to Drive in 2025

Canalys analysts cited that slowdown in consumer spending will force vendors to shift sales strategies through channel incentive, promotional offers, and retail spending to manage inventory, which increases value perception to consumers on spent as opposed to demand and is dubbed spending-driven by vendors, for the year of 2025 which will be termed “channel-driven year.”

“Even with weak domestic demand, especially in rural areas, this widespread increase in the Rs 20, 000–Rs 30, 000 and growing Average Selling Prices (ASPs) signifies space for optimism.” But relying on seasonal income and slow device upgrade in urban centers continues to weigh on demand.

India’s Global Role Gained Continued Scope with Changes in US Tariffs

The changes in the global trade, especially on the US wage s, more elastic regions consider India to expand phone manufacturing bases, the country turns into an attractive center to base smart devices export at ted smartphone.

As Chaurasia stated, “AI will be required to stimulate new growth areas through the introduction of AI-led functionalities and further inter-system integration.” “In the absence of robust support for growth, the outlook for the year is rather subdued and the most prominent trend is to be selective expansion of margins.”