India is currently the second largest smartphone market in the world, and its premium device segment has been growing rapidly year over year. The latest market research by Counterpoint reveals that high-end smartphone segment in India achieved a 20% YoY growth in 2017.
Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus served as the key pillars of the exponential growth. Incidentally, these three brands contributed to nearly 94% of the overall market share. Apple had a great run in the last quarter of the year, thanks to the high sales of its new iPhone X. The near bezel-less smartphone was, in fact, the bestselling premium smartphone of Q4 2017, with a 21% market share.
Interestingly, the iPhone 8 sales were lower than expected, with iPhone 7 contributing to much of the company’s overall sales in terms of volume. The Counterpoint research further reveals that Apple’s strategic tie-up with Airtel and Amazon helped in increasing its shipments in the final quarter of 2017.
Apple iPhone X faced stiff competition from its Android counterpart, the OnePlus 5T. The updated flagship killer from the Chinese OEM trailed behind the new iPhone with a market share of 17%. OnePlus, in fact, owes most of its market success to the 5T.
Despite leading the premium smartphone market with 46.9% share, Apple was closely followed by its Chinese counterpart, OnePlus. The Shenzhen based OEM amassed an overall market share of 24.9%, thereby widening its gap with Samsung. The Korean maker banked on its Galaxy Note 8 sales to finish at 17.6% in Q4 of last year.
OnePlus was, in fact, the fastest-growing brand in the premium smartphone segment. The Chinese OEM succeeded in capturing the second position in the high-end smartphone market for the second time in two consecutive quarters. Apart from these top three players, popular brands including Xiaomi, HMD, LG, and Google expanded their presence in the premium segment with their combined shares standing at 10.6% for Q4 2017.