The premium smartphone market in India has been growing pretty fast since the pandemic. Users have realised the need and importance of powerful smartphones while living inside their homes. Premium devices can enable users to play games, watch movies, do graphic work and more pretty comfortably. For perspective, premium smartphones are devices which cost above or more than Rs 30,000. The festive sales, which just went by, add a boost to the demand for premium phones. It is worth noting that in Q3 2022 (July - September), while smartphone shipments in India declined, the demand for mid-tier and premium smartphones rose. Shilpi Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint, said, “In terms of price bands, the premium segment (>INR 30,000) reached its highest-ever share of 12% during this quarter.” This means that more and more users are going for premium devices, or the demand for low-tier price smartphones is going down. In this scenario, it could be a mix of both, as the overall shipment of smartphones declined during the quarter.
Which Brands Were the Top in Premium Smartphone Category in India
Again, when we talk about premium smartphones, we are talking about phones priced above Rs 30,000. In India, you will find there are several brands in that price range. But how about the top three? The top three brands in the premium smartphone category were Apple, Samsung and OnePlus. Apple and Samsung are mostly competing for the top premium smartphone manufacturer in most major global markets. But at the third position was one of the most favourite brands of Indian consumers - OnePlus. Talking about Apple, the Cupertino tech giant was able to reach its highest-ever share of 5% in India’s smartphone market during the quarter. This was also due to the festive sales that came around the second half of September. As per Counterpoint, the iPhone 13 became the first iPhone ever to top the overall smartphone shipments in the country during a quarter. Apple had a massive share of 40% in smartphone shipments in the quarter. In Q3 2022, Samsung had the second spot. The data from Counterpoint suggests that Samsung remained the top-selling 5G smartphone brand in the country. The Galaxy M series and Galaxy F series smartphones helped the company drive a strong performance in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 segment. Counterpoint data says that OnePlus grew 35% YoY in Q3 2022. The OnePlus Nord CE 2 and OnePlus Nord 2T were the drivers for the company. In the premium segment, OnePlus remained in the third position. The Nord portfolio of smartphones has helped the company drive strong market share in the Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 price segment. In terms of just 5G smartphone shipments in Q3 2022, OnePlus was in the second rank, meaning Indian users trust Samsung and OnePlus devices a lot when it comes to 5G.
