The premium smartphone market in India has grown quite rapidly since the pandemic. Users have realized the need and importance of powerful smartphones while living in their homes. Premium devices can allow users to play games, watch movies, do graphic work, and more. For perspective, premium smartphones are devices that cost over or more than 30,000 rupees. The holiday sales that have just passed are boosting demand for premium phones. It is worth noting that in the third quarter of 2022 (July to September), while smartphone shipments in India fell, demand for mid-tier and premium smartphones increased.
Shilpi Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint, said: “In terms of price ranges, the premium segment (>30,000 INR) reached its highest share ever this quarter at 12%.” This means that more and more users are opting for premium devices decide or the demand for cheap smartphones will drop. In this scenario, it could be a mix of the two as overall smartphone shipments declined over the quarter.
Which brands were the top performers in the premium smartphone category in India?
When we talk about premium smartphones, again we are talking about phones priced over Rs 30,000. In India there are several brands in this price range. But what about the top 3? The top 3 brands in the premium smartphone category were Apple, Samsung and OnePlus.
Apple and Samsung compete primarily for the top premium smartphone maker in most major global markets. But on the third place was one of the most popular brands among Indian consumers – OnePlus.
Speaking of Apple, the Cupertino-based tech giant captured its highest-ever 5% share of the Indian smartphone market during the quarter. This was also due to the festive sales that took place around the second half of September. According to Counterpoint, the iPhone 13 became the first iPhone ever to top the total number of smartphone shipments in the country during a quarter. Apple had a massive 40% share of smartphone shipments in the quarter.
In the third quarter of 2022, Samsung ranked second. Counterpoint’s data suggests that Samsung remains the top-selling 5G smartphone brand in the country. The Galaxy M series and Galaxy F series smartphones helped the company to perform strongly in the Rs 10,000-20,000 segment.
Counterpoint data states that OnePlus grew 35% year over year in the third quarter of 2022. OnePlus Nord CE 2 and OnePlus Nord 2T were the drivers for the company. In the premium segment, OnePlus remained in third place. Nord’s smartphone portfolio has helped the company achieve a strong market share in the Rs20,000-30,000 price segment. In terms of 5G smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2022, OnePlus ranked second, which means Indian users have high trust in Samsung and OnePlus devices in terms of 5G.
