Chinese brands take a page out of Apple, Samsung premium playbook in India, claims report

Smartphone

The Indian smartphone market registered 69 million smartphone shipments in the first half of 2024, with 7.2% growth year-on-year (Y-o-Y). In the second quarter of 2024, the market shipped 35 million smartphones, with a growth of 3.2% Y-o-Y, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Further, the report added that the market was led by Chinese smartphone maker Vivo with a 16.5% share in volume terms with its shipment growing by 6.7% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. Apple leads the super-premium segment, where smartphones are priced above Rs 67,000, and the company still has a commanding 83% market share followed by Samsung with a 16% share.

After Vivo, Xiaomi is still the second largest shareholder with a 13.5% market share. Samsung after leading at the first spot in the last quarter, slipped to the third sport with a 12.9% market share as its shipment declined by 15.4% on a YoY basis. Other Chinese smartphone players like Oppo and Realme completed the top five spots, with Apple at sixth with 6.2% of market share.

The biggest growth segment in the overall smartphone market was the entry-premium segment which has devices priced in the range of Rs 16,000 to Rs 33,500. Smartphone average selling prices (ASPs) grew by 2.8% on a year-on-year basis as well. However, for 5G smartphones, these ASPs decreased by 22% YoY.

IDC also notes that the entry-premium segment is expected to grow, while the budget segment will continue to face challenges despite efforts to introduce affordable 5G smartphones. Moreover, marketing around GenAI smartphones is expected to grow even more in the coming months.