According to a caller study by Omdia, India's smartphone shipments fell by 26% to 35.8 cardinal units successful the 3rd 4th (July to September) compared to the aforesaid play past year. Thus, Q3 2026 saw the lowest smartphone shipments since 2016, contempt the commencement of the festive season. Higher prices and cautious user spending were to blame, unsurprisingly, and the second is astir apt caused by the former, truthful these aren't adjacent truly 2 reasons.
Samsung regained the apical spot for the archetypal clip since Q1 2024, shipping 6.7 cardinal units, for astir 19% of the market. Its apical sellers were the Galaxy A07, Galaxy A17, and Galaxy A27, portion the Galaxy S26 series, the caller foldables, and the Galaxy S26 FE helped arsenic well.
vivo slipped to 2nd spot with 6.4 cardinal units shipped, down 34% year-on-year, the sharpest diminution among the apical five, arsenic repeated terms hikes disrupted transmission inventory readying and constrained entry-level supplies weakened its competitiveness. Its shipments were chiefly supported by the Y11 5G and Y21 5G, portion the returning S-series, led by the S2, besides contributed.
Oppo ranked 3rd with 4.9 cardinal units, down 24%, arsenic rising prices and cautious retailer stocking weighed connected its halfway A-series, portion the Reno16 series supported its premium propulsion with camera-led differentiation and financing offers. Xiaomi was 4th with 4.7 cardinal units, down 28%, arsenic rising constituent costs weakened its accepted worth proposition. The Redmi 15A and Redmi A7 did the work, portion the Redmi Note 17 series, Poco X8, and Poco X8 Power contributed to its higher-value portfolio.
Apple rounded retired the apical 5 with 3.9 cardinal units, supported by transmission stocking up of anticipated terms hikes and sustained request for the basal iPhone 17 and iPhone 16 amid the lack of a caller basal iPhone 18. The late-quarter motorboat of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max besides gained momentum, helped by slope cashback, speech bonuses, and no-cost EMI schemes.
The combined marketplace stock of Chinese brands fell to astir 68% successful the 3rd quarter, down from 75% successful the year-ago quarter, portion Samsung and Apple strengthened their positions. Looking ahead, Omdia expects India's marketplace to diminution by a further low-single-digit percent successful 2027, with pricing pressures apt to persist done astatine slightest the archetypal fractional of the year. Apparently, astir 4 successful 10 radical successful India accidental utile AI capabilities could marque them consenting to wage much for a smartphone, truthful that's thing that vendors are apt to effort and exploit going forward.
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