Chinese apps: Are they more popular in India

India has been a growing hub of mobile applications for many years now. India has a huge population and nowadays the majority of people hold a phone in their hands. Many companies have been making affordable mobiles so that’s that. The Chinese application markets have been nesting consistently in the Indian tech units for quite some time now. But, an increase in the use of Chinese apps was seen from late 2017 to early 2019, according to Factordaily. Apps such as Helo, LIVE, UC Browser, and TikTok have gained huge popularity with the Indian population.

If you want to understand the dominant effects of the Chinese apps markets, just think back to all those times when your friend annoyed you into shooting a TikTok video. Or maybe you are that friend? No offense!

UC browser is another app you will definitely recognize. It is a highly used app in the market. But when did this take-over happen? Do you remember these apps being so popular in the year 2015-16, or beyond? 

In the year 2017, the top apps did not include any Chinese apps. Maybe one or two at the end of the list. That is when the climb happened. During late 2017 to early 2018, the Chinese apps took over the list of top apps on Google Playstore. There were 44/100 apps by the end of 2018 as compared to a meager 18/100 apps during the previous year. 

Source: FactorDaily

Source: FactorDaily

Many Chinese apps have become popular over the last two-three years in India. The apps are spread across many categories. Social content apps like Helo and ShareIt are widely in use. TikTok and LIKE are in the entertainment category and have been accepted and used by millions of Indians within months of its launch. TikTok, owned by ByteDance, has been ranked among the top 5 Android apps in India since June 2018. At least 39% of its over 500 million global active users from India. These numbers make India its largest market. This is no surprise since there are 119 million active users on TikTok in India. 

Source: Google

Many utility apps are also popular like Xender, Cam Scanner, and BeautyPlus. Games like PUBG have been all the rage for a couple of years now. Many people have migrated towards e-commerce apps such as SHEIN and ClubFactory.

With so many apps from china gaining traction in the Indian market, will the scenario change? According to app analytics and marketing firm AppsFlyer, YES! Indian developers have been putting up a hell of a fight against the Chinese tech giants. According to their reports, Chinese apps have fallen from a whopping 43% in 2018 to 38% by the end of 2019. 41% of the top 200 apps were developed by local firms and Indians developers. AppsFlyer has analyzed over 6.5 billion installs to present this data of an Indian comeback. 

But the Chinese won’t give up. They have recognized India as its ultimate market. Owing to our huge population and inclination towards apps like TikTok and LIKE, they aren’t wrong in identifying us as a beneficial market for them. 

Will our love for Chinese apps become as accepted and permanent as our love for Chinese food? Only time will tell.