(Riya Singh, Intern Journalist): Smartphone shipments in India were either delayed or canceled owing to the novel coronavirus situation. This has hugely affected the number of shipments on the second-largest smartphone market in the world. In the second quarter of this year, the exports reportedly dropped by 48 percent relative to the previous year. Retail shops and e-commerce sites including Amazon India and Flipkart were not allowed to sell smartphones and other items which were not essential to all activities.
In the quarter ended in June this year, Xiaomi delivered 5.3 million units amid the lockdown. Xiaomi has already dominated the local market by 30.9 percent. It is Vivo, after Xiaomi, who ranked second for shipping 3.7 million smartphone units in India. The firm has commanded 21.3 percent of the country’s market share. Samsung was led by Vivo with a market share of 16.8 percent.
There is a growing anti-China sentiment in India, other than the COVID-19 case. The Indian government has declared a ban on the 59 Chinese apps alleging that such apps are engaging in practices that are harmful to India’s security, independence, and defense.
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