Samsung Dominated OnePlus and Apple With Strong Galaxy S9 Sales in H1 2018: CMR

Samsung lost the premium smartphone market to OnePlus in Q2 2018, however, the South Korean electronics company dominated the premium smartphone segment in India during the first half of 2018. According to a new report from CyberMedia Research (CMR), Samsung dominated the Indian premium smartphone segment with half the market share. The CMR India’s Mobile Handset Review report released today mentioned that Samsung secured a market share of 48% during H1 2018, followed by Chinese maker OnePlus which grabbed the second spot with 25% share and Cupertino giant Apple with 22% share.

“The premium smartphone segment, though small, is driven by aspirational, tech-savvy millennials and in the coming years, will continue to grow significantly. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S9 helped it garner a lion’s share of the premium smartphone segment,” Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, said in a statement, according to IANS.

One in two premium smartphones shipped in the first half of 2018 was a Samsung device, the CMR India report added. “The success of OnePlus 6 can be traced to the intelligent brand strategy of packing the best specs at competitive price points, contributing to the emergence of a new ‘budget premium’ smartphone segment under sub-Rs 30,000,” added Ram.

During the first half of 2018, OnePlus introduced its “OnePlus Experience Stores” and is planning to embrace offline in a big way, to complement its strong online presence. The iPhone-maker suffered a decline in demand for its iPhones due to pricing challenges on account of post-duty increase.

“Apple is reworking its India strategy for the all-important second half of 2018, with new retail partnerships, first-party stores and service overhauling with India-focused apps and services, including refreshed Apple Maps,” said Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR.

Apple is facing some tough time in the Indian market, but it’s expected to come up with a new strategy after the launch of new iPhones next month. OnePlus dominated the premium smartphone segment in India in Q2 2018 with a market share of 40%, followed by Samsung and Apple. Samsung has launched its Galaxy Note 9 smartphone in India at a super aggressive price of Rs 67,900 for the base variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. It also reduced the price of Galaxy Note 8 to Rs 55,900 earlier today.