OnePlus zooms past Samsung, Apple in Indian premium segment

OnePlus debuted into the ultra-premium segment (Rs 45,000 and above) with OnePlus 7 Pro and immediately captured 26 per cent share.

"This ultra-premium segment is a subset of the overall premium segment and usually led by Samsung and Apple. With healthy sales of Samsung Galaxy S10-series, OnePlus 7 Pro and Apple iPhone XR the volumes in this segment almost doubled,' said Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Samsung dropped to the second position in the overall premium-segment, holding 22 per cent share with volumes declining 16 per cent (year-on-year).

Overall, smartphone shipments in the premium segment grew an impressive 33 per cent annually in India -- way above the single-digit overall smartphone shipment growth during Q2 2019.

Apple's volumes in this segment doubled annually in Q2 2019 driven by iPhone XR thanks to the price correction in April.

"Apple is also doubling down on its efforts to localize local manufacturing which will help them save 20 per cent on import duties and can potentially pass on to consumers or use it to build its retail footprint and upcoming festive season discounting/marketing," Chauhan noted.

In the case of Samsung, promotions for the S10 series remain strong.

"Galaxy S10 Plus was the top model for Samsung despite the availability of cheaper Galaxy S10e. This shows that India consumers are ready to pay more for a premium experience," said Chauhan.

Second quarter was the first-ever one when premium segment had the highest number of models, offering wide variety of choice for consumers.

"As more brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and Huawei enter this segment, this segment is going to be hyper-competitive in the second half of 2019," informed Chauhan.

The combined share of OnePlus, Samsung and Apple was 85 per cent during the second quarter, down from 88 per cent level a year ago.