Report: Xiaomi was most popular smartphone brand in India for 2018

• Xiaomi was the most popular smartphone brand in India last year, according to Counterpoint Research.
• The Chinese brand reportedly jumped from 19 percent market-share in 2017 to 28 percent last year.
• Jio was the top mobile brand across feature-phones and smartphones in general.

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Xiaomi enjoyed a pretty successful 2018 around the world, launching its Pocophone sub-brand and coming to more European countries. Now, Counterpoint Research has more good news for the company, as it found Xiaomi was the number one smartphone brand in India for 2018.

According to the tracking firm’s statistics, the Chinese company hit a massive 28 percent market-share in 2018, while second-placed Samsung accounted for 24 percent market-share. It marks an impressive turnaround for the company as, just a year ago, Samsung was number one at 24 percent, while Xiaomi was sitting at 19 percent.

Counterpoint Research

Vivo (10 percent), Oppo (eight percent), and Micromax (five percent) made up the top five players in India for the year. Interestingly, these figures and positions were unchanged from a year ago. But the “others” category dropped from 34 percent market-share in 2017 to 25 percent in 2018, illustrating the consolidation taking place.

One brand that missed out on a top five finish for the year was Realme, but the company secured fourth place for the last quarter of the year (with eight percent market-share). Realme’s quarterly climb came at the expense of parent company Oppo, which was relegated to fifth place in Q4.

Counterpoint Research

The tracking firm also revealed the fastest growing smartphone brands, led by Tecno (221 percent), Honor (183 percent), and Infinix (146 percent). It’s pretty interesting to see two out of Transsion Holdings’ three brands in the top three, with only iTel missing out. Otherwise, HMD Global (138 percent) and Asus (76 percent) completed the list of fastest growing smartphone OEMs.

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OnePlus didn’t crack the top five fastest-growing brands or top five brands by market-share, but it still enjoyed a rather successful 2018 in India. In fact, the analytics firm noted that OnePlus achieved 58 percent year-on-year growth, making it the most successful premium smartphone brand in the market.

It’s worth noting, however, that feature phones grew faster than smartphones for the first time, according to Counterpoint. This was led by the Jio Phone, which was also the most popular phone in India for 2018, even when taking smartphones into account. In fact, Jio accounted for 21 percent market-share in 2018 across feature-phones and smartphones alike. It doesn’t hurt that the feature-phone offers nearly unlimited data, 4G support, free voice calls, Google apps, and WhatsApp.

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Source: Android Zone

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Is Sony going to axe its Compact range of Xperia smartphones?

• A Sony executive reportedly said people want smartphones with bigger screens now.
• The comment suggests that Sony could abandon or de-emphasize the Compact family.
• The news comes roughly a month after Xperia XZ4 Compact renders apparently leaked.

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Sony is one of the few brands offering smaller flagship-level smartphones, having launched its Xperia Compact line back in 2014. Now, it seems like the Japanese firm is having a hard look at the device family.

“We stuck with Compact for a very long time, because of the ease of use,” Don Mesa, Sony Mobile’s vice-president for marketing, told Digital Trends (h/t: XDA). “There’s always room for different sizes, but people want a lot more surface area for their content now.”

This statement isn’t quite confirmation that the company has abandoned the Compact series. But at the very least, it shows that Sony acknowledges the move towards big screens. The statement could also suggest that the last few smaller phones didn’t meet the company’s sales expectations compared to the bigger variants.

It would be a shame if the company decides to ditch the Compact line, as Sony essentially had the small screen flagship market to itself. Then again, what’s the point if that particular market is dwindling in favor of larger devices?

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The news also comes barely a month after Xperia XZ4 Compact renders supposedly leaked via OnLeaks. So the renders could mean the phone is still on-track for release despite the comments. There’s also the possibility that Sony cancelled the device at the last minute, or that the leaks weren’t accurate in the first place and the firm didn’t have Compact plans at all for 2019.

It’d truly be the end of an era if the company decides to ditch the series. Aside from battery size and screen resolution, Sony’s smaller phones generally had the same cameras, IP rating, and horsepower as its larger stablemates.

The Compact phones were also cheaper than the bigger devices, which makes me wonder whether Sony should try pitting the line-up against Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Huawei before giving up altogether.

Would you miss Sony’s Compact series if the company decided to get rid of it? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: Android Zone

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