Oppo overtakes Apple in India, becomes 2nd biggest vendor by value

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has overtaken Apple for the first time to become the number two brand in India by sales value behind Samsung in August 2016.

Oppo also clocked in a growth of 16 per cent in comparison to the previous month, Germany-based market research firm GFK said on Thursday.

In August, Oppo constituted 8 percent of the India’s market sales by value as opposed to Apple’s 6.3 percent, according to GFK data. Reliance’s Lyf and Micromax trailed with 6.1 percent and 5.4 percent shares respectively.

Samsung, which has been the market leader for many months now, retained the top position with a 46.9 percent value market share in the month.

“India is a priority market for us and we have caught the trend that users like taking photos and selfies by phones. Therefore, we will continue investing in photography technology, design and offering the best consumer experience,” said Sky Li, Oppo Global Vice President and President of Oppo India in a statement.

Oppo launched the ‘selfie expert’ Oppo F1s in August in India. F1s comes with 16MP front camera and ‘Beautify’ function, fingerprint unlock and good battery endurance.

However, Counterpoint Research pegged Oppo as the third biggest vendor with 7 percent value share. Apple, with 5.6 percent share, was actually ranked sixth. According to Counterpoint, Lenovo-Moto combined were ranked second in the market with a total share of 8.5 percent.

The difference in GFK and Counterpoint’s data is a result of the different tracking methods. While GFK tracks end-consumer sales in 50,000-plus population markets, Counterpoint tracks sale to retail traders prior to public retailing.

The dwindling market share makes the launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus even more pivotal for Apple, who has been facing tough competition from the Chinese counterparts. In recent months, the ‘low cost’ Chinese alternatives have been gaining market share in terms of both numbers and value.