On April 17th, M.Video-Eldorado, Russia’s largest chain store of consumer electronics, released its analysis of the Russian smartphone market in the first quarter of 2023. According to Gizcoupon’s report, Russian users bought over 6.5 million devices from January to March this year, about the same as last year. The top five smartphone brands in Russia in the first quarter of this year were Xiaomi, Realme, Samsung, Apple, and Transsion. The share of Chinese brands in unit sales reached 70%, up from 50% last year.
Performance of Chinese smartphone brands in the Russian Market
M.Video-Eldorado’s data showed that the average price of smartphones purchased in Russia from January to March 2023 was about 22,000 rubles(approximately $268.80), a 23% decrease from last year.
In terms of currency, the total size of the Russian smartphone market is approximately 145 billion rubles(approximately $1.772 billion). In terms of quantity, Russian demand for Chinese brands increased by 42% compared to last year, with a total share of over 70%. Xiaomi became the best-selling brand in Russia in the first quarter of this year, followed by Realme, Samsung, Apple, and Tecno.
This trend is not new. In 2022, the Russian media outlet “Businessman” cited MTS data, reporting that Chinese smartphone brands were far more popular in Russia than Apple and Samsung. The data showed that in July, Xiaomi (including its sub-brand POCO) was far ahead of its peers in the Russian smartphone market. Based on sales, the market share of Xiaomi and its sub-brand POCO combined accounted for 42% of the Russian smartphone market in July, ranking first. Realme was in second place, with a sales share of 17% in the Russian smartphone market in July.
The rise in demand for Chinese smartphone brands in Russia is also evident in the financial performance of M.Video-Eldorado. The latest financial report shows that its sales in 2022 fell by 14%. M.Video estimated in its investor report that the overall size of the Russian electronics and appliance market fell from 25 trillion rubles in 2021 to 23 trillion rubles in 2022.
