Samsung, Apple rule in $3-bn smartphone haul of 11-day festive sales

Online festive sales

Samsung and Apple have emerged as the biggest gainers in India's first wave of festive season smartphone sales between September 26 and October 6, driven by deep discounting and aggressive marketing during online sales bonanza like Big Billion Days on Flipkart and The Great Indian Festival on Amazon India.

According to estimates from market trackers, smartphone brands collectively sold $3 billion of devices during the initial phase of the 2024 festive season sale, which lasted for 11 days.

According to Counterpoint Research and TechInsights, during the first wave of the festive sales, Samsung led both in terms of volume and value with aggressive offers across price segments in Big Billion Days and The Great Indian Festival. The Korean smartphone chaebol was also the primary sponsor for sales events both on Flipkart and Amazon, which gave it an additional thrust.

Market research firm TechInsights calculated that Samsung saw a 17 percent growth in volume sales year-on-year in the first wave in 2024 compared the same period last year, helping it corner a 20 percent market share during the sales. Counterpoint Research, however, pegged it at 17-18 percent.

The festive sale brought some respite to Samsung, which had been struggling to grow its market share due amid simmering competition from Chinese brands like Xiaomi and Vivo in the entry-to-mid segment and from Apple in the premium segment.

Apple was a surprising second with a 16 percent slice of the market pie, growing 44 percent in volume sales on the back of the iPhone 15, which crossed one-million mark in the 11 days of sales.

"The iPhone 13 also saw the second highest demand, but the sales gap between the iPhone 15 and 13 was significant. What's impressive is that Apple jumped up the ranking from fourth in 2023 to second this time," said Abhilash Kumar, industry analyst at TechInsights.

During the initial sales phase, Counterpoint Research associate director Tarun Pathak told Moneycontrol that Apple experienced single-digit volume growth, which was lower than the same period a year back. Despite this, he emphasised that the iPhone 15 emerged as the best-selling ultra-premium smartphone.

"Apple kept more offers on iPhone 13 and 15 in the online channels, while iPhone 14 and the latest iPhone 16 series saw offers in the offline channels. We saw a good uptake of the iPhone 16 series, but demand has softened, but there is a better demand for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max compared to last year's Pro series," Pathak said.

Faisal Kaoowsa, founder and analyst at TechArc, said that the availability of the latest iPhone 16 series helped Apple grab the attention of new buyers. “Brands which do launches just before such sales festivals are able to garner good attention of prospective buyers.”

They said more customers opted for premium smartphones, with sales crossing a million units in the ultra-premium category of Rs 70,000 and above for the first time. Apple dominated this price segment.

According to preliminary estimates by TechArc, smartphones worth $2-2.3 billion were sold online, with Amazon leading the first wave of sales with over 55 percent of the share, while the remaining was sold on Flipkart.

"Additionally, offline sales during the period would have been roughly over $700 million, and another $200 million would have been made from direct brand online stores (D2C). Cumulatively, we are talking about $3 billion of smartphone sales. This revenue is more than 6 percent of the total expected revenue for CY2024," Kawoosa told Moneycontrol.

Analysts estimate that smartphone sales during the entire festive season will grow up to 10 percent year-on-year. In contrast, a steeper growth is likely in terms of value as more people are looking for pricier phones with better specifications.

According to Counterpoint estimates, volume sales during the festive season are expected to grow 3 percent on-year, while sales in terms of value are projected to rise 9-10 percent on-year. CyberMedia Research (CMR) predicts a 10 percent year-over-year growth in unit sales during this festive season, primarily driven by the rise in online shopping.

"In the first wave, which is dominated by the online channel, sales growth in volume terms is 7 percent down, but sales in value terms have increased 4-5 percent due to the premiumisation trend," Pathak said. "The first wave normally contributes 55 percent towards the overall festive season sales, which has come down to 50 percent, but we expect a recovery in the next two waves."

"The availability of fast-selling models during the period was high on Amazon, which led to more sales. Also, Amazon's exchange programme was available in India, while Flipkart was limited to metro and Tier 1 cities," Kawoosa said.

Prabhu Ram, head of the Industry Intelligence Group at CMR, said consumers eagerly anticipate discounts and promotions during the yearly festive sales. "They appreciate the convenience of having gifts delivered directly to their loved ones across the country, often at minimal or no additional cost. The value-for-money and premium smartphone segments are expected to experience the most significant traction this year, as many brands will focus their discount strategies in these areas."

According to TechArc, several brands performed well this festive season, particularly on Amazon, with strong sales from Samsung, Apple, Realme's Narzo, Xiaomi's Redmi, OnePlus, and iQoo. On Flipkart, Motorola, Oppo, and Poco saw solid demand, while Redmi and Apple devices were also available on the platform.

"Most sales were for Rs 12-15,000 smartphones with 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM. In the premium segment, priced above Rs 25,000, Amazon made an estimated 30-percent-plus sales growth over the previous year," Kawoosa added.

Analysts said the first wave of the festive season in 2024 lasted 11 days, compared to 7-8 days in the past couple of years. The second wave of festive sales will start in the coming days and will again be dominated by the online channel, followed by the third wave of sales, largely in the offline channel.

According to estimates from TechInsights, the first wave of festive season saw 11 percent growth in smartphone sales over the same period a year ago. Online accounted for 78 percent of the sales in the period.