Smartphone middle loses brand edge

India’s Rs 15,000-30,000 smartphone market is becoming less about which logo sits on the back of a phone and more about what consumers get for their money. As specifications converge and component costs rise, Android brands are finding it harder to build durable differentiation around hardware alone.

The shift is visible in the increasingly compressed market shares. In Q2 CY2026, Vivo led India’s smartphone market with an 18.4% share, followed by Samsung at 16.4%, Oppo at 13.8%, Xiaomi at 9.7% and Realme at 9.3%, according to IDC. This is a markedly different landscape from 2023, when Samsung was India’s No. 1 smartphone brand with a 17% share.