Most handset brands including Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo are gearing efforts to expand their shares in India as the growth momentum in the China market has slowed down, according to industry sources.

As being reported, Apple has appointed Nokia executive Ashish Chowdhary as its new head of India operations as the US-base handset brand is reorganizing its executive team to rekindle its smartphone sales in the local market. The new appointment reportedly will become effective in January 2019.

Apple's pricing strategy has made iPhone devices unaffordable for most consumers in India, with iPhone sales set to fall on-year for the first time in four years in 2018, indicated the sources.

Samsung Electronics, which had been the top smartphone vendor in India before losing out the title to Xiaomi in the fourth quarter of 2017, has rolled out efforts aiming to double its handset production capacity in the local market to 120 million units from the current 60 million units, the sources indicated.

The expansion project in India will be crucial for Samsung to continue to play a leading role in the global smartphone market as the Korea-based vendor is suffering a serious setback in China, said the sources.

Samsung shipped about 600,000 smartphones in China in the third quarter of 2018, with its total shipments for the year in the market likely to reach merely three million units, the sources estimated.

Using its aggressive pricing strategy and a well-established chain of Mi House and other licensed shops, Xiaomi has been making headway in the India market, said sources.

To continue to solidify its leading market position in India, Xiaomi has recently unveiled a US$1 billion expansion project to deepen its presence in the local market.

To play a catch-up with Xiaomi, Huawei, the top-vendor in China, has also announced recently to invest up to US$100 million in India in the next three years, including plans to set up a retail chain with over 1,000 sales outlets to further ramp up sales in the market.