Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, India's premium smartphone market (> Rs 25,000) grew 18% YoY in H1 2020, according to a new report by CMR. Samsung led the premium smartphone segment in the country with an impressive 37% market share, followed by Apple with a 26% share and Chinese brand OnePlus stands third on the list with 15% share. The report says that the premium smartphone segment is one of the least affected segments in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic as the nation was under complete lockdown for nearly two months. In H1 2020, we saw several brands like Oppo, Realme, iQoo, Motorola and Xiaomi competing for some market share, but in the end, it was Samsung which emerged as the winner.
Samsung Galaxy A71 Became the Best Seller in Rs 25,000-Rs50,000 Segment
Going by the report, the Premium Smartphone Segment (Rs 25,000 – Rs 50,000) is a hyper-competitive segment, where more OEMs, including the likes of Oppo and Xiaomi, are currently competing for market share This segment accounted for 5% of the total smartphone shipments in H1 2020. The Samsung Galaxy A71 outperformed every other smartphone in this segment, contributing to a 19% share.
Moving onto the Super Premium Smartphone Segment (Rs 50,000 – Rs 1,00,000), Apple stays on top with 56% market share, while Samsung was placed second with 34%, and OnePlus at third position with 4% market share. The Apple iPhone 11 contributed to be the bestseller in this segment, accounting for 39% of the shipments. This segment accounted for nearly 2% of the total smartphone shipments in H1 2020.
Lastly, we have the Uber Premium Smartphone segment (more than Rs 1,00,000) in which Apple leads the market with 67% market share, while Samsung was placed a distant second with 30% market share. Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max contributed to around 40% of the shipments in this segment, which is impressive.
India's Premium Smartphone Market Leaderboard
As mentioned above, the South Korean smartphone brand Samsung led the premium smartphone market in India with 37% market share majorly to its success of Galaxy A71 and A51 which contributed 38% and 13% respectively of its shipments and YoY growth of 56%. Samsung also started manufacturing its flagship Galaxy S20 series in India during this quarter.
As for Apple, it continued its impressive run in the premium smartphone market, growing by 14% YoY and with a 26% market share. The iPhone 11 continued to garner a good market response in the initial part of the year, said CMR in its report. On the other hand, the all-new iPhone SE 2020 is on track to repeat the exceptional performance of the iPhone 11. It captured 8% market share of the total premium smartphones shipped during Q2.
OnePlus was placed third with 15% market share, with the newly launched OnePlus 8 series contributing to a majority of its shipments.
