According to IDC, Vivo represented 15.8 percent of the Indian phone market in the third quarter of 2024, comfortably overtaking Samsung. This is not new either. According to, Vivo was the third ranked brand in India till 2018 Canalis.
It has produced some great phones and has pushed the envelope in phone camera technology in particular, being the first to claim the use of a gimbal sensor stabilization in 2020’s Vivo X50 Pro and, later, in the Vivo X60 series. Pixel shift.
If you’re one of those people who haven’t encountered a Vivo phone before, you might assume it’s a local brand, an Indian one. it is not. Vivo belongs to the BBK group of phone makers, along with Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, and others. These are all Chinese companies, under one parent company, big enough to cast a Lovecraftian shadow. These Chinese brands are responsible for shaping the Indian phone market in 2024.
“Because of cheap data and the entry of Chinese brands in India in the last seven, eight years, [Chinese manufacturers] Really democratized price points,” says Singh.
A decade or so ago, trade shows were filled with feature phones designed for developing markets like India. The dominance of the feature phone has been reversed, and India is now entering a phase where, like the West, the masses More is acceptable Of and able to buy more High priced phones.
“‘Value for money’ has been the general mindset of Indian consumers, but this is increasingly moving towards buying more premium phones,” said Neil Shah, Vice President, Counterpoint Research. Consumers are seeing smartphones as an investment opportunity, with ROI even higher than buying a car, house, or insurance. A phone can sometimes be everything in India.”
Data backs it up. Accordingly CounterpointThe average selling price of a smartphone in India has increased from $192 in Q3 2020 to $293 in the same quarter in 2024.
It’s this effect that has helped Apple do so well in India, recording nearly 60 percent growth in market share from Q3 2023 to 2024, according to IDC data.
“Considering that Apple’s average selling price is so high, it’s quite an achievement that Apple has done so well over the past few years,” says Singh. “A big reason is that Apple is seen as an aspirational brand in India. One of its brands is Hello. Everyone would love to buy an iPhone. Not everyone can afford one. “
