OnePlus & Realme exit Indian smart TV market amid Chinese brand scrutiny

OnePlus and Realme have decided to exit the smart TV business in India, halting production and sales, even as scrutiny intensifies over Chinese brands in the country.

This comes at a time when Xiaomi continues to face cases by the Enforcement Directorate and fresh allegations against Vivo, which is also allegedly part of China's BBK Group. OnePlus had launched new premium TV offerings in India earlier this year.

"OnePlus and Realme have decided to move out of the television category, even though they continue to operate in the smartphone business," sources told TOI.

Last quarter, Vivo became the number one smartphone seller in India, but it was OnePlus that gained the most market share at the expense of Xiaomi. However, Xiaomi held on to retain the top spot in smart TVs.

Thanks to the cricket world cup and more affordable technology, demand for smart TVs has increased. OTT players like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar and Jio Cinema have further fueled demand.

OnePlus and Realme had developed sales channels, branding and manufacturing capabilities for smart TVs in India. However, this will not be continued. For Realme, which lost its India CEO Madhav Sheth to Honor, it has been a challenging few months as it faces a brain drain.

But this is puzzling, as IDC data points to the smart TV market in India growing 8% year-on-year in the first half of 2023, with 45 lakh shipments. In 2022, almost 1 crore smart TVs were shipped, a 7% year-on-year growth. OnePlus alone was the 5th largest player having entered the premium segment in late 2019.

Xiaomi leads the space with a 14% market share, with Samsung a close second at 13%. LG stood third with 12% and TCL was fourth with 8% market share.