The Chinese Brand Maintains Highest Market Share among an Android Dominance in India
Cheaper, available everywhere, manufactured locally, having an open OS embraced by local tech developers, enjoying better integration with digital payment providers, and being pushed by influencers and tech reviewers - these are among the key factors that have led to a massive dominance of Android devices on the Indian smartphone market. Among them, the Chinese brand Xiaomi has gained and maintained a leading market share in the country over the years since its strong introduction back in 2016.
“This is also why the snowball keeps rolling in favor of existing leaders. Dominant mobile tech finds support in top-tier influencers and general public interest. Features and device usage sustain a two-sided market demand which is not expected to change in the short run. That is unless additional political, trade, or regulatory constraints are introduced on the tech and gaming scene,” as concluded by Svilen Madjov, researcher at SevenJackpots.
Svilen Madjov’s recent study on “Which Mobile Devices are Popular for Gambling in India” analyses internal aggregate and anonymous data on online casino organic traffic for roughly 78,000 registered users over a 15-month period until the middle of 2021. The research paper also looks into publicly available industry-wide statistics to compare and confirm its findings and to elaborate on the underlying factors that have fostered the established trends.
The segmentation of organic traffic data by Operating System (OS) and brand reveals that Xiaomi devices were used by 23.38 percent of all registered users during the analysis period. Samsung phones follow with a share of 19.24 percent, and the next three positions are taken by Vivo (15.25 percent), Oppo (10.68 percent), and Realme (8.87 percent).
The premium smartphone segment is being contested between Apple with an overall share of 5.44 percent and OnePlus used by 3.95 percent of users. Huawei, a brand that commands one of the leading positions on the global market, has to deal with a local share of just 2.14 percent. “Political and trade wars inevitably affect its competitiveness in the Indian market,” the industry researcher notes.
The Overwhelming Android Dominance Reflected by Casino Data
Casino Days is just one of many chance-based gaming platforms where roughly nine out of every ten players rely on an Android device to play supplied by one of the Top 6 phone brands measured by player value which have a combined share of roughly 89 percent of all mobile phones used in the analyzed dataset. Public sales statistics for December 2022 validate the observation revealing that Android had a share of 95.69 percent, while iOS-run devices were responsible for 3.54 percent of the sales.
“Overall, Android has had a larger share for the past decade, and its current dominance does not surprise analysts. It offers users more real-money games (RMG), apps, and payment options than any alternative,” Svilen Madjov writes.
“We have seen several Chinese brand smartphones – locally produced in India – earn the lion’s share of the market in the past few years. With some slight differences between urban and rural users, mobile gamers tend to trust market leaders and expect user-friendly smartphones at an affordable price,” he adds.
Apple has taken the role of a status symbol and enjoys a certain popularity among social media influencers in Delhi and Mumbai. Technical issues with app support, and delays in launching dedicated retail and online stores are among the factors contributing to the “niche” status of the American brand.
“The Indian consumer remains on the lookout for more value for money despite the defining powers of metropolitan gamers. This is true for hardware (devices) and software (game monetization types). The majority of mobile devices are sold in the range between USD 50 and USD 200. The listed brands of Android smartphones dominate the market because of the numerous offers in that category, something Apple does not intend and cannot afford to pursue,” the research papers elaborates on the underlying cost-related and other factors for the current market distribution.
A Mobile-First Gaming Market
The SevenJackpots primary data analysis reveals that mobile devices are used in 87.16 percent of all user sessions, with the smartphone dominance being confirmed by publicly available statistics that show it touches the 90 percent threshold on some casual and real money gaming platforms.
Laptop and desktop computers are used by 12.38 percent of players, most of whom could be classified as hard-core gamers. Tablets have a negligible share of 0.46 percent, and consoles like the Microsoft Xbox and the Sony PlayStation remain an item of luxury.
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