The 5G smartphone shipments grew 14 per cent (year-on-year) in India in the first quarter (Q1) 2023, with 5G smartphone shipment share increased to 41 per cent, a new report said on Friday.

According to CyberMedia Research (CMR), India’s 5G smartphone momentum continued through Q1 2023 with 34 new 5G launches, with Samsung leading the country’s market with a 23 per cent share, followed by Apple with a 17 per cent market share.

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In addition, India’s smartphone market shipments declined by 21 per cent (year-on-year), during Q1 2023, while the overall mobile market in the country declined by 20 per cent (year-on-year).

“The decline in smartphone shipments during Q1 2023 marks the first ever Q1 decline since 2019 and is attributed to extended inventory, weakened demand, and inflation. The overall feature phone segment declined by 19 per cent (year-on-year), driven by muted demand and an increase in feature phone to smartphone upgrades,” said Shipra Sinha, Analyst – Industry Intelligence Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR).

Moreover, the report showed, due to challenging economic conditions and slow demand, India saw a 38 per cent (year-on-year) decline in the affordable smartphone segment (sub-Rs 7000), a 25 per cent (year-on-year) decline in the value-for-money smartphone segment (Rs 7000 – Rs 25,000), and a 23 per cent decline in the premium smartphone segment (Rs 25,000 – Rs 50,000).

However, the super-premium smartphone segment (Rs 50,000 – Rs 1,00,000) and the uber premium segment (>Rs 1,00,000) shipments saw remarkable growth of 96 per cent and 208 per cent (year-on-year), respectively.

Samsung (20 per cent), Vivo (17 per cent) and Xiaomi (16 per cent), captured the top three spots in the smartphone leaderboard in Q1 2023, followed by Oppo (10 per cent) and Realme (9 per cent).

Around $2 billion worth of 5G smartphones shipped in Q1 2023.

The report further mentioned that the cumulative 5G smartphone shipments are set to cross the 100 million mark in Q2 2023.

Apart from the 5G smartphone segment, Samsung also held the top spot in the smartphone market with a 20 per cent market share in Q1 2023.

Vivo secured the second spot with a 17 per cent market share, while, Xiaomi slipped to the third position in the smartphone leaderboard with a 16 per cent share.

“The overall foldable smartphone shipments grew 125 per cent (year-on-year) in Q1 2023. This growth in the foldable smartphone market will bolster the overall smartphone market in CY2023 and beyond,” said Menka Kumari, Analyst-Industry Intelligence Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR).

Further, OPPO secured the fourth position with a market share of 10 per cent, while, Realme held the fifth position with a market share of 9 per cent.

However, Apple maintained its steady growth with a 7 per cent market share in the smartphone market in Q1 2023, recording a significant (year-on-year) increase of 67 per cent in its shipments.