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

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.