KIANEWS 
Finnish company HMD Global has launched a new HMD Fuse smartphone aimed specifically at children. According to the company, it is the world's first smartphone that prevents children from filming, broadcasting or viewing nude and sexually explicit content, even while streaming.
Indian Smartphone Market Shrank 4.1% in Q1 2026
28. 05. 2026 Thursday / By: Robert Denes / Business / Exact time: BST / Print this page
The first quarter of the year was not entirely productive for the Indian smartphone industry. According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, India's smartphone market shipments declined 4.1% year-on-year to 31 million units in Q1 2026. Despite the declining volume, the market grew by 5.8% in value terms.
The results for Q1 2026 are said to mark a structural turning point in one of the world's largest smartphone markets. According to the report, Vivo retained its leading position with a 19.6% market share, although the year-on-year unit change saw a 4% decline. Samsung was in second place with a 17.1% market share, while Oppo was in third place with a 15.3% market share. Apple and Motorola are in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Although Oppo ranked third, the brand had the highest year-over-year unit change (22%) among other brands.
IDC reported that the decline in overall shipments was driven by three interrelated factors: memory cost inflation led to lower shipments of entry-level devices, the mass budget segment grew by 10% year-over-year, and rising input costs limited the ability of brands to implement aggressive discounting and channel-driven promotions that historically drive mass market growth.
The offline channel share increased from 58% to 62%, while the online channel share decreased from 42% to 38%.
"Average selling prices increased 10.4% year-on-year to a record $302 in Q1 2026, driven by persistent memory cost inflation for both newly launched devices and existing models. In contrast to previous quarters, aggressive discounts and channel-driven promotional schemes remained limited as rising input costs constrained brands' ability to drive demand through pricing. The current environment signals a broader structural shift in the market, where brands will increasingly need to rely on product differentiation, financing offers and premium strategies rather than price-driven promotions to drive demand for the remainder of 2026," said Aditya Rampal, senior research analyst, IDC Asia Pacific Devices Research.
They say that the recovery in the second half will depend on how effectively brands balance product innovation, pricing strategy and cost management with persistent component inflation and uneven consumer demand.
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