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Analytics firm says Xiaomi is #1 phone vendor in India, Samsung disagrees
July 07, 2025
Analytics companyCanalysrecently reported that Samsung had lost its position as the top smartphone vendor in India. Based on Canalys’ Q4 2017 figures, Xiaomi took the lead with 8.2 million units shipped while Samsung shipped just over 7.3 million to come in second.
In what might not be a completely surprising move, Samsung has contested the claim.
A Samsung spokesperson toldTechRadarthat the company was still ahead in India, and that it was ahead by some margin.
The thing is, this statement doesn’t refute theCanalysclaim. Like the spokesperson says, research companyGfKtracks sales to “end consumers,” whileCanalystracks shipments. Now, end-user purchases might be the superior method for tracking smartphone vendor performance—I mean, who cares which company put most units out into the world if they actually sold less than someone else, right? Nonetheless, as long aCanalysis using shipments to determine its hierarchy, claims that Xiaomi is ahead may still be true.
Of course, if that suggested 40% volume market of Samsung’s is accurate, then it would be absurd if Xiaomi was indeed ahead, given the number of big smartphone players in India (it would leave a less-than 20% share for the remaining manufacturers). But what I’m trying to say is: theCanalysreport might not be accurate, but Samsung hasn’t supplied anything to suggestGfK’s is.
What’s more, theCanalysfindings are echoed by analytics companyCounterpoint Research, which also crowned Xiaomi as the leader in India for Q4 2017, while I can’t find anything fromGfKon the matter.This is its Q4 2017 smartphone report, but it doesn’t talk specifics about OEMs.
Meanwhile,Counterpoint Researchalso suggests Samsung has lost the top spot in feature phone shipments to Reliance Jio.
This isn’t the first time Samsung hasdisputed aCanalysreporteither. In 2015, the research firm reported that Micromax had become India’s top smartphone vendor. Samsung later highlightedGfK’s findings, which suggested it had a 34.3% volume market share.
The major research firms often reach different conclusions on device shipments because they use different tracking methods—and covering millions of unit sales from the outside of the company’s they’re reporting on can’t be easy. No matter what the claim is, you have to take it with a grain of salt. In this scenario, however, unless Samsung can provide a stronger argument, we’d lean towards the other reports.
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