This is a very confusing article... "Apple has retained the lead in India's premium smartphone market" "while Samsung was again pushed into third place, a significant drop from its position near 30 percent one year ago, and its share above 50 percent last summer.
"the overall Apple shipments in the premium segment declined 31 percent YoY"
"the Indian premium smartphone segment grew 20 percent annually by volume and 28 percent by value in CY 2017."
Yes, I'll have another cup of coffee please... It's me.
Very valid observations!!! Few points specific to Indian context.
1. Indian PM announced stupid demonetization on Nov-08-2016. This resulted in one-off heavy spending on iPhones, Jewelry and other luxury items in Indian market in 2016Q4.
2. This was considered as a one-off phenomena, causing iPhones share in Indian market to be much higher than NORMAL. The expectation was that iPhones would lose marketshare in India in subsequent quarters, which eventually happened. 2017Q1 and 2017Q2 numbers reflect this reality.
3. Fast forward 2 more quarters - Samsung is losing ground in Premium market in India and Apple & OnePlus are the beneficiaries.
Bottomline is - Apple witnessed a one-off strong growth in Indian market in 2016Q4. Take that out - Samsung was the leading OEM in premium segment in India UNTIL 2017 Q2. Things have changed NOW. Samsung has lost the plot in India in premium segment (>$500).
Additional info, unrelated to this specific article - Things are NOT as dire for Samsung as anyone would imagine, just by looking at the numbers mentioned in this article. Samsung is still the No. 1 smartphone OEM in India, excluding low end (<$150, Xiaomi is leading in that segment). Samsung is the leading OEM in mid-range smartphones in India ($150 - $500) where they are decently profitable (unlike Xiaomi who are selling smartphones at near break-even prices at the low-end). So if anyone thinks that Samsung's situation in India would plumb to the depth similar to Samsung's market/profit share in China, they are mistaken. They have strong presence in both online & offline sales channels in India. Samsung is here to stay as Leader in Indian smartphone market for many more years. Only thing that they have to do is - Reduce the price of their over-priced S & Note series phones and make them competitive in India. At least, that seems to be the takeaway for me, based on the graph shown in this article.
The reason this is an issue is most Indian have barely functional smart phones. They only called a smart phone since it has display and apps, User experience on Google built android base cheap phones is causing all sort of problems in India. As i always said you get what you pay for, and in India they do not understand this phase.
The reason this is an issue is most Indian have barely functional smart phones. They only called a smart phone since it has display and apps, User experience on Google built android base cheap phones is causing all sort of problems in India. As i always said you get what you pay for, and in India they do not understand this phase.
That's the reason for Android Go. I know you like keeping up on this stuff while you wait with popcorn in hand for Google to kick the rocker next year or two so might want to read up on it to avoid boredom. The first optimized apps are just rolling out on Google Play. http://www.androidpolice.com/2018/02/01/google-releases-assistant-go-app-play-store/
So Apple found maybe 200 people total in India with enough money to buy the X? India is an impoverished country, despite occasional small pockets of well off people. The Chinese middle and upper classes are far better off.
This is simple math. According to one interwebs site, the top 1% of India’s population controls 49% of the country’s wealth. As that statistic implies, that 1% is disproportionately rich relative to the rest of the population, which totals around 1.324 billion. That makes 13+ million potential smartphone buyers right there. The real number is likely much higher.
You know they could be rich in cow ownership. I am not sure what that Stat means in India. You know that the 10% in the US have 80% of the wealth which would imply that 90% the people in the US can not afford an iPhone. People choose to afford what they want, and on the flip side in India they choose not to spend their money on things like expensive phones, their preference at various income levels tend to be on pay less for things
Lets see India as ~250,000 millionaires (dollar millionaires and not rupee millionaires). And I am sure you don't need to be a millionaire to consider buying an iphone.
Comments
Very valid observations!!! Few points specific to Indian context.
1. Indian PM announced stupid demonetization on Nov-08-2016. This resulted in one-off heavy spending on iPhones, Jewelry and other luxury items in Indian market in 2016Q4.
2. This was considered as a one-off phenomena, causing iPhones share in Indian market to be much higher than NORMAL. The expectation was that iPhones would lose marketshare in India in subsequent quarters, which eventually happened. 2017Q1 and 2017Q2 numbers reflect this reality.
3. Fast forward 2 more quarters - Samsung is losing ground in Premium market in India and Apple & OnePlus are the beneficiaries.
Bottomline is - Apple witnessed a one-off strong growth in Indian market in 2016Q4. Take that out - Samsung was the leading OEM in premium segment in India UNTIL 2017 Q2. Things have changed NOW. Samsung has lost the plot in India in premium segment (>$500).
Additional info, unrelated to this specific article - Things are NOT as dire for Samsung as anyone would imagine, just by looking at the numbers mentioned in this article. Samsung is still the No. 1 smartphone OEM in India, excluding low end (<$150, Xiaomi is leading in that segment). Samsung is the leading OEM in mid-range smartphones in India ($150 - $500) where they are decently profitable (unlike Xiaomi who are selling smartphones at near break-even prices at the low-end). So if anyone thinks that Samsung's situation in India would plumb to the depth similar to Samsung's market/profit share in China, they are mistaken. They have strong presence in both online & offline sales channels in India. Samsung is here to stay as Leader in Indian smartphone market for many more years. Only thing that they have to do is - Reduce the price of their over-priced S & Note series phones and make them competitive in India. At least, that seems to be the takeaway for me, based on the graph shown in this article.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-internet-is-filling-up-because-indians-are-sending-millions-of-good-morning-texts-1516640068
The reason this is an issue is most Indian have barely functional smart phones. They only called a smart phone since it has display and apps, User experience on Google built android base cheap phones is causing all sort of problems in India. As i always said you get what you pay for, and in India they do not understand this phase.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2018/02/01/google-releases-assistant-go-app-play-store/
Lets see India as ~250,000 millionaires (dollar millionaires and not rupee millionaires). And I am sure you don't need to be a millionaire to consider buying an iphone.