Chinese apps edged out by domestic rivals in India as competition heats up in world’s No 2 smartphone market

Chinese apps in India were overtaken by locally developed offerings this year in terms of total number of installations, as the world’s second largest smartphone market continues to draw major international players in a range of categories.

Of the top 200 installed apps in India this year, domestic apps now make up 41 per cent of the list, a 38 per cent increase from last year, according to a new report released this week by AppsFlyer, a San Francisco-based mobile marketing analytics firm. It said much of that growth was driven by demand for apps in the shopping, food and drink categories. The AppsFlyer review covered 6.5 billion total installations in the April to September period.

Apps from Chinese developers, by contrast, made up 38 per cent of the top 200 list, down from their market-leading 43 per cent share last year. Chinese apps, however, continued to lead in categories such as gaming, news and entertainment, and utilities.

“Given the size and blue-sky potential of the market, India could very well see more foreign competitors following in the footsteps of the Chinese, which have expanded at a surprising clip, over the next decade,” the AppsFlyer report said.

The increasingly competitive apps market in India reflects how Chinese technology companies have sharpened their focus in the world’s second most populous country amid a slowdown in their home market. Chinese Android device brands Xiaomi Corp, Vivo, Oppo and Realme had a combined 52 per cent share the country’s smartphone market in the past two quarters, according to data from the AppsFlyer report.