Apple's iPhone 11 captures 68% of India's 'ultra-premium' smartphone market
While Apple has yet to make substantial inroads into India's mainstream smartphone market, the tech giant's latest flagship iPhones continue to dominate top-tier category sales.
New statistics shared by IDC on Friday show Apple accounted for 62.7% of India's $500-and-up smartphone segment in the first quarter of 2020, besting competitors Samsung and OnePlus.
Further, iPhone 11 took a 68% share of shipments in the $700 to over-$1000 segment over the three-month period. The strong showing helped the category double year-over-year, IDC estimates.
Overall, India's smartphone market grew 1.5% year-over-year on 32.5 million units shipped. Xiaomi, vivo, Samsung, realme and Oppo were the quarter's top-five vendors, respectively.
Today's data lines up with figures issued by Counterpoint Research in April. At the time, the company estimated 4% year-on-year growth in India for the first quarter and also noted strong iPhone 11 sales on the back of discounts from Flipkart, Amazon and other resellers.
It should be noted that market research firms like IDC have questionable track records when it comes to estimating Apple unit sales. Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook, have in the past rebutted quarterly forecasts, implying they are largely inaccurate.
With Apple no longer reporting individual unit sales, however, industry watchers have little choice but to work with information offered by independent research analysts.
New statistics shared by IDC on Friday show Apple accounted for 62.7% of India's $500-and-up smartphone segment in the first quarter of 2020, besting competitors Samsung and OnePlus.
Further, iPhone 11 took a 68% share of shipments in the $700 to over-$1000 segment over the three-month period. The strong showing helped the category double year-over-year, IDC estimates.
Overall, India's smartphone market grew 1.5% year-over-year on 32.5 million units shipped. Xiaomi, vivo, Samsung, realme and Oppo were the quarter's top-five vendors, respectively.
Today's data lines up with figures issued by Counterpoint Research in April. At the time, the company estimated 4% year-on-year growth in India for the first quarter and also noted strong iPhone 11 sales on the back of discounts from Flipkart, Amazon and other resellers.
It should be noted that market research firms like IDC have questionable track records when it comes to estimating Apple unit sales. Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook, have in the past rebutted quarterly forecasts, implying they are largely inaccurate.
With Apple no longer reporting individual unit sales, however, industry watchers have little choice but to work with information offered by independent research analysts.
Comments
Apple is the best, so people with lots of money will naturally choose Apple.
I still think that Android is mostly for poor people and third world people. There are a few exceptions of course, but I believe that the average Android user using the average Android phone is not using the top models or the very expensive models, they're very budget conscious and/or broke.
They do have a choice: they can work for a living, like the rest of us.
As for these numers, you really should read the article!
If Apple took 68%, the rest obviously went somewhere else.
If you went one step further and understood the article it would help your case. These are results from just one quarter!
The point is - the line is drawn "arbitrarily" to make Apple's position in India "look" better. It is just pure optics and NOTHING else in the context of smartphone market in India. Despite this, we have people like lkrupp, who keep complaining that Apple get ONLY negative press day in, day out.
If I were to lose or destroy my Xs I would replace it with a much less expensive phone now otherwise I have no intention of buying a new model in the coming years. The same applies to my iMac (2019) and iPad 2019.
What’s the alternative? We remove these terms and just look at the smartphone market as a whole? Is it really fair to look at $50 smartphones with the same “optics” as $1200 smartphone? Are they really the same buyer to you?
"Samsung's Galaxy Fold captures 98% of USA's 'super-ultra-premium' smartphone market"
"Galaxy Fold accounted for 98% of the shipments in the $1800 to over-$2500 segment over the three month period"Well, don't you think OnePlus (an underdog in the grand scheme of things) doing "BETTER" than Apple is an achievement in itself, considering that they are selling "premium" phones ONLY like Apple???? And OnePlus is NOT an independent brand. They are a sub-brand of BBK electronics. BBK has about 45%+ share in smartphone sales in India (not bad, right?).
Few more meaningful numbers for you to chew, from the IDC report in the context of smartphone market in India:
1. Total smartphones shipped in India in Q1 2020 - 32.5 million
2. Percentage of smartphones shipped with price > $300 - 5.6% (1.82 million)
3. Percentage of smartphone shipped with price > $500 - 1.8% (585,000)
4. Apple's share of smartphones shipped with price > $500 - 62.7% (366,795).
Just read those numbers and come to your own conclusion on Apple's GREAT achievement that the title of this article is boasting about.
There are lies, damn lies and statistics.
Edit: on thinking through this further, it wouldn't help Apple much, with Apple's best selling iPhone SE 2020 in the same price range. Q3 numbers would be much more interesting, for whatever it is worth, especially on how it is spun to make Apple "look" good.