Even the world's second largest smartphone market is not immune to Covid-19.
Smartphone deliveries to India fell 48% in the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago, the most drastic drop in one of the few growing markets in a decade, announced on Friday evening Canalys research firm.
About 17.3 million units of smartphones were shipped in Q2 2020, compared to 33 million in Q2 2019 and 33.5 million in Q1 2020, the research firm said.
You can blame the coronavirus for this.
New Delhi ordered a national closure in late March to contain the spread of the virus that has seen all stores across the country - except some of those selling groceries and pharmacies - temporarily cease operations. Even e-commerce giants such as Amazon and Flipkart have not been allowed to sell smartphones and other items classified by the government as "non-essential".
The prolonged foreclosure lasted until mid-May, after which the Indian government estimated that other e-commerce stores and deliveries could resume in much of the country. New Delhi's strict measure explains why the Indian smartphone market has plunged so sharply.
In comparison, China, the world's largest smartphone market, experienced only an 18% drop in shipments in the quarter ending in March, the period when the country was most affected by the virus. In the first quarter, while India was practically unaffected by the virus, smartphone shipments increased by 4% in the country. (Overall, smartphone deliveries fell 13% in the first quarter - a figure that is only expected to improve slightly to 12% this year.)
"It was a difficult road to recovery for the smartphone market in India," said Madhumita Chaudhary, analyst at Canalys. "While sellers experienced a peak in sales from the opening of markets, production facilities had to contend with staff shortages in addition to new manufacturing regulations, resulting in lower production."
Despite the lock, Xiaomi maintained its dominance in India. The Chinese smartphone supplier, which has been the leading smartphone supplier in India since the end of 2018, shipped 5.3 million units of smartphones in the quarter ended June of this year and held 30.9% of the local market, estimated Canalys.
With 3.7 million units shipped and 21.3% market share in India, Vivo kept second place. Samsung, which once ruled the Indian smartphone market and has made significant investments in the country in recent months, settled for third place with 16.8% of the shares.
Almost all smartphone providers have launched new handsets in India in the past few weeks as they seek to recover from the downtime and several more smartphone launches are planned over the next month.
But for some of these players, the virus is not the only obstacle.
Anti-Chinese sentiment has gained notoriety in India in recent months since more than 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a military clash in the Himalayas in June. The "boycott of China" - and its variants - is trending on Twitter in India, as a number of people have posted videos destroying smartphones, TVs and other products made in China. At the end of last month, India also banned 59 apps and services developed by Chinese companies.
Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, which now ranks fourth in India, and other Chinese smartphone suppliers control nearly 80% of the smartphone market in India.
Chaudhary de Canalys believes, however, that these smartphone companies will be able to largely avoid the backlash as "alternatives from Samsung, Nokia or even Apple are barely competitive. "
Apple, which controls only 1% of the Indian smartphone market, was the least affected among the top 10 suppliers, as iPhone shipments fell only 20% year-on-year to more than 250,000 in the second quarter 2020, said Canalys.