Apple leads the premium smartphone market in India ahead of OnePlus and Samsung.
The smartphone segment in India has witnessed massive growth in the last few years. A report by Counterpoint Research claims that the premium smartphone segment in India witnessed an impressive 20 per cent year on year growth in 2017 thanks primarily to devices from Apple, OnePlus and Samsung – t
The smartphone segment in India has witnessed massive growth in the last few years. A report by Counterpoint Research claims that the premium smartphone segment in India witnessed an impressive 20 per cent year on year growth in 2017 thanks primarily to devices from Apple, OnePlus and Samsung – the three brands in total commanded a dominating 94 per cent share.
Consisting of smartphones priced at Rs 30,000 and above, the premium smartphone segment was the second fastest growing segment by volume – trumped only by the highly competitive Rs 10-15,000 segment populated by phones from Xiaomi, Motorola and Honor.
At 38 per cent, Apple was the clear segment leader in the premium segment – with the iPhone X and iPhone 7 leading the way in terms of sales. OnePlus was the fastest growing brand and had a 25 per cent share. Samsung rounded off the podium in third place with strong sales of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8.
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The report also lists the top three smartphones in terms of sales – the iPhone X at 21 per cent, followed by the OnePlus 5T at 17 per cent with the Note 8 trailing in at 8 per cent. Google, Xiaomi, LG and Nokia also expanded their presence in the premium segment but were far behind the leaders.
Almost all iPhones are imported into India and attract import duties which drive up their prices. The current generation iPhone SE is the only outlier – it is manufactured in India by Wistron at a facility in Bengaluru. Now it seems that another device could soon join the Make in India fray. A new report claims that Apple could soon start manufacturing the iPhone 6s in India.
The Reuters report says that Wistron is close to attaining 100 acres of land in Bengaluru which would be used primarily to manufacture the old but still mighty capable iPhone 6s. Apple is said to be investing close to 157 million dollars to develop the site and the deal could be finaled in the next few weeks.
The move comes after the Government of India decided to hike the import duty on various electronic items such as mobile phones and televisions. The report quotes an unnamed source saying that Apple is – “likely to start assembling its iPhone 6s models in India via Wistron soon, as it looks to cut costs and diversify its production base beyond greater China”.
Manufacturing the iPhone 6s in India makes a lot of sense as there is currently a huge gap in Apple’s Indian line-up. A low-cost iPhone 6s will be perfect for those who find the iPhone 7 and 8 too expensive, the iPhone SE too small and the iPhone 6 too outdated.
As a result of slowdown in sales in key markets such as Europe and the US, Apple is increasingly looking to developing countries such as India and China for growth. At Apple’s most recent earnings conference call, Apple CEO TIm Cook said that while there was great momentum in India, the company was still gaining understanding of the complicated market.
