Xiaomi loses top spot in India's vast smartphone market to a Chinese rival

New Delhi (CNN Business) Xiaomi has dominated India's smartphone market for more than a year, but it just lost top spot to another Chinese company.

BBK Electronics, which owns smartphone brands Oppo, Vivo, Realme and OnePlus, accounted for 30% of Indian smartphone sales in the quarter ended June. That put the company just ahead of Xiaomi, according to a new report from tech consultancy Counterpoint Research.

Xiaomi is still the biggest single brand with 28%, followed by South Korea's Samsung with 25%. But Vivo, Realme and Oppo round up the top five with a combined 28% of the market, and when OnePlus (with 2%) is included, BBK comes out on top, Counterpoint said.

The prize is enormous — India already has more than 400 million smartphone users, and hundreds of millions of Indians are expected to discover the internet through mobile devices in the coming years.

Brands like Apple (AAPL) have struggled to crack the price-sensitive market, leaving Chinese manufacturers to grab the huge opportunity by offering more affordable smartphones to millions of Indians whose average annual wage is less than $2,000.

Oppo, in particular, has made several strides. The company got approval to open retail outlets in India in 2017, and until recently was the main sponsor of the Indian cricket team. Another BBK brand, Vivo, sponsors the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.

A total of 37 million smartphones were shipped in India during the three months ended June, the highest number ever for the quarter, Counterpoint said.