India’s smartphone market had a rough three months, and the numbers released on October 28 tell that story plainly. Shipments fell 20 percent in the July to September quarter, the lowest third-quarter volume in a decade. Yet in that same difficult quarter, one homegrown brand moved sharply in the opposite direction. Ai+ Smartphone grew 306 percent year on year, according to Counterpoint Research, making it India’s fastest-growing smartphone brand in Q3 2026.
Buyers held back as prices rose, and the affordable segment that usually powers volume took the biggest hit. Ai+, a young brand with a small starting base, found room to grow while the overall market shrank.
A tough quarter for almost everyone
Counterpoint’s Monthly India Smartphone Tracker puts the headline decline at 20 percent year on year for Q3 2026. The cause, reported by The Hindu from the same tracker, was record-high memory prices: device costs rose, demand softened, and manufacturers kept a lid on inventory.
The pressure was heaviest where India buys most of its phones. Shipments in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment fell 47 percent year on year, as rising prices pushed models that once sat below that line into higher price bands. Research analyst Shubham Singh said rising component costs made devices dearer and weakened the mass-market engine, particularly below Rs 15,000.
The leaderboard still belonged to the big global names. Samsung returned to the top spot after nine quarters with a 17 percent share, driven by its Galaxy A series. Vivo followed with 16 percent, while Oppo and Xiaomi, including Poco, held 12 percent each. Apple made a strong start with its iPhone 18 Pro series, with initial sales nearly 20 percent higher than the iPhone 17 Pro series, while Google grew by more than 50 percent year on year.
What Ai+ did differently
Counterpoint credits Ai+’s growth to three things: a wider product portfolio, stronger marketing and greater visibility with buyers.
The portfolio point is the easiest to see. Just before the festive season, on September 28, Ai+ widened its range beyond phones alone. It added the Pulse 2 FE smartphone, aimed at first-time buyers and affordable upgrades, alongside the NovaTab 5G tablet and the Nova LapTab 5G, a two-in-one device with a keyboard. The new devices went on sale through Flipkart from October 7, in time for Diwali shopping, when millions of Indians make their big technology purchases for the year.
The Pulse 2 FE shows the pitch clearly. Priced at Rs 9,999 for its 4GB RAM and 64GB storage version, it offers a large 6.67-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 5,000mAh battery and a 50MP main camera, running Android 16 with the company’s NxtQuantum OS layer. For a buyer moving up from a basic handset, that mix of a big screen, a big battery and a familiar price is easy to understand.
Ai+ is the smartphone brand of NxtQuantum Shift Technologies, founded by Madhav Sheth, who earlier led Realme in India and Europe. The company describes NxtQuantum OS as India’s first sovereign mobile operating system, built on Android, with user data stored on servers in India.
A wider shift, and a cautious outlook
The Ai+ result sits inside a broader change. Homegrown smartphone brands together lifted their share from 2 percent in Q3 2025 to 7 percent in Q3 2026. That is still a small slice, but the direction has changed: Indian brands now account for roughly one phone in every fourteen sold.
Madhav Sheth acknowledged both sides of that story, saying sustaining the pace would be challenging given the company’s relatively small starting base, while calling the wider shift encouraging for Indian brands.
For the rest of the market, the outlook stays cautious. Counterpoint expects a market contraction of around 13 percent across 2026. Research director Tarun Pathak warned that the post-festive slowdown would add to the pressure, and that elevated component costs were likely to drive another round of price hikes after the festive season sales.
The next quarterly numbers will show whether Ai+’s festive-season push turned into lasting demand or a one-quarter spike. For now, the Q3 figures mark a small but real moment for Indian smartphone brands: in the toughest quarter in a decade, a brand built in India, selling mainly to value-conscious buyers, grew faster than any other.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Ai+ Smartphone grow in Q3 2026?
Shipments grew 306 percent year on year in Q3 2026, according to Counterpoint Research, making Ai+ India’s fastest-growing smartphone brand in the quarter.
How did India’s overall smartphone market perform in Q3 2026?
Overall shipments fell 20 percent year on year to the lowest third-quarter volume in a decade, mainly because high memory prices pushed device costs up and softened demand.
Who leads Ai+ Smartphone?
Ai+ is the smartphone brand of NxtQuantum Shift Technologies, founded by Madhav Sheth, who previously led Realme in India and Europe.
What new devices did Ai+ launch before the festive season?
On September 28, Ai+ announced the Pulse 2 FE smartphone, the NovaTab 5G tablet and the Nova LapTab 5G two-in-one device, which went on sale through Flipkart from October 7.
What is the outlook for India’s smartphone market in 2026?
Counterpoint projects an approximately 13 percent contraction for 2026, with continued pricing pressure and a post-festive slowdown expected to weigh on demand.
