(Yicai Global) May 18 -- Four of China’s best known smartphone manufacturers are ramping up sales in India and poaching customers from Samsung Electronics, which slipped to third place by market share in the first quarter.

Vivo Communication Technology edged ahead of the South Korean phonemaker, which fell from second place in the previous quarter, data from Canalys shows. Xiaomi topped the bunch and Realme Mobile Telecommunications and Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications filled out the top five.

All four Chinese brands increased sales from January through March, while Samsung was the only one among the top five to suffer a decline, according to the data. Samsung’s market share fell to 14 percent from 18.9 percent as it sold 6.3 million units in the quarter.

Shenzhen-based Realme, which went independent from Oppo in late 2018, tripled its first-quarter sales annually despite the Covid-19 pandemic, picking up an 11.7 percent share.

The firm has no plans to cut its sales target of 30 million handsets -- double last year’s sales -- and is not making any virus-related business changes until it has a better idea of what the future holds, Wang Shuo, head of the firm’s India marketing, told Yicai Global. Selling 30 million phones would make up roughly 40 percent of its targeted global sales.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi locked down the country on March 24 because of Covid-19 and restricted the online and offline sales of unnecessary products, which could impact sales and competition between the major players in the second quarter.

Editor: James Boynton