India's Smartphone Market Rings 3% Growth in Jul-Sep

India's smartphone market grew 3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the third quarter of the calendar year 2025, reaching 48.4 million units shipped, as per the latest research from Omdia, which cautioned that despite early momentum, gains are unlikely to sustain into a strong year-end.

The modest growth was driven by a wave of new launches in July and August, retail incentivisation and an earlier festive season that pulled forward inventory flows, Omdia said.

Vendors filled the channels with new stocks in expectation of a high-demand festive period.

India's smartphone market rose 3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q3 2025, touching 48.4 million units shipped, Omdia said in a release.

Put simply, shipped units refer to devices that have left the factory premises and been sent to channel or distributors, for sale in the market.

"With limited organic demand, Q3's momentum was largely sustained through incentive-led channel push rather than pure consumer recovery," Sanyam Chaurasia, Principal Analyst at Omdia, noted.

According to Omdia, vivo (excluding iQOO) extended its lead in the market with 9.7 million units shipped (20 per cent market share), while Samsung ranked second with 6.8 million units (14 per cent market share) followed by Xiaomi in the third spot, narrowly overtaking OPPO (excluding OnePlus), with both vendors shipping 6.5 million units.

Apple returned to the top five with 4.9 million units, with incremental growth driven by smaller tier cities. Apple posted its highest-ever shipments in India in Q3, securing 10 per cent share, Chaurasia said.

"Smaller cities drove volumes through aspirational demand, aggressive festive offers and wider availability. While older iPhones 16s and 15s drove major shipments under discount-led upgrades, the iPhone 17 base model gained traction supported by a strong iPhone 12–15 install base upgrades. Looking ahead, Apple will aim for Pro-model upgrades and deepen its ecosystem to drive long-term value," Chaurasia added.

On the Q3 smartphone market scorecard, Omdia noted that vendors reallocated marketing budgets to high-impact retail incentive programs that rewarded sell-through, ranging from cash-per-unit bonuses to tiered margins and dealer contests with rewards such as gold coins, bikes, and international trips.

Such incentives motivated distributors and retailers to absorb higher inventory ahead of the festive season. At the same time, vendors intensified consumer-facing schemes, from zero-down-payment EMIs, micro-instalment plans, bundled accessories and extended warranties, to drive conversions.

However, inventory concerns loom for the October-December period.

"Despite early momentum, Q3's gains are unlikely to sustain into a strong year-end," says Chaurasia, who believes that while government-led reforms such as GST reductions on large appliances lifted overall retail sentiment, smartphone-specific demand recovery remains limited.

"Urban consumers continue to delay upgrades due to employment uncertainties and rising cost sensitivity, despite better product availability and financing schemes. As a result, sell-out traction lags behind shipment growth, raising concerns of inventory build-up in Q4, especially after November," Chaurasia said.

Rural demand, in contrast, has been relatively stable, but insufficient to offset cautious urban sentiment.

"For full-year 2025, we continue to expect a modest decline, reflecting a fragile recovery cycle that remains highly sensitive to economic tailwinds and channel correction dynamics," Chaurasia added. PTI MBI TRB