World smartphone war: Micromax, Karbonn are losing against Xiaomi, Oppo mobiles

Billboards and placards of Chinese mobile handset brands Oppo and Vivo are omnipresent at Nehru Place, a bustling electronic goods market in South Delhi, dwarfing the presence of rivals like Samsung, Micromax, Karbonn and Lava.

"The awareness and demand for Oppo and Vivo mobile phones has risen very sharply," says Balwant Mehta, a distributor in Nehru Place.

"These brands also offer better margins to dealers. So every time a customer buys a Vivo or Oppo phone instead of a Samsung or Micromax, the shop owner earns more as well." And it appears to be a similar story across India.

Indeed, a marketing blitzkrieg has catapulted Oppo and Vivo to the top echelons - with a smartphone market share of 9.6 and 12.7 per cent in Q2, 2017 - in a matter of less than 12 months. The gamble of garnering high visibility through high octane advertising over the long term is paying off.

Earlier this year, Oppo bagged the sponsorship rights of the Indian national men's cricket team with a bid of Rs1,079 crore for five years.

This was more than five times the previous winning bid. Not to be outdone, Vivo retained the sponsorship rights of the Indian Premier League for the next five years with a bid of Rs2,199 crore, a 554 per cent jump in valuation over its own previous bid for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.