Samsung has piped Apple in the one price segment that matters the most to Apple.
Amid all the hoopla about Tim Cook‘s visit to India, a Counterpoint Research report paints a fairly bleak picture about Apple in India. The report claims that in FY’2015-16, Samsung sold more premium smartphones than its arch rival. Premium smartphones are defined as smartphones priced over Rs 30,000. With Apple mainly focused on that price segment, this wouldn’t come as the best of news.
According to the research report, by the end of 2015-16, Samsung’s market share in the premium segment stood at 47 percent, while Apple trailed with a share of 45 percent. This is a reverse in trend from the year before, where Apple led with a market share of 43 percent, while Samsung trailed with a share of 35 percent.
Numbers shared by retail market tracker Gfk also paints a similar picture, ToI reports. As of March this year, Samsung led with a volume share of 56 percent and value share of 55.7 percent. Apple, on the other hand, has a volume share of 37.9 percent and value share of 39.5 percent.
Analyzing the trend, the report states that Samsung’s ‘edge’ series of devices have made their mark in India and a steady drop in prices have only helped their cause. The Galaxy Note 5 too has done relatively well.
This year too Samsung looks to have had a good start with its Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge flagship smartphones, which are not only very good devices, but are priced competitively as well. Apple, on the other hand, seems to have missed the boat with the iPhone SE, which has been marred by a very high price tag. Analysts expect an upturn in Apple’s fortunes only after the iPhone 7 is launched in India.
It’s not just the premium segment, and Samsung is literally dominating the mobile space in India. The South Korean giant has a market share of 26.6 percent in the Indian smartphone space, while Apple is way behind with a share of around two percent.
It is this stat that Apple is focused on changing, which was also one of the reasons for Cook’s visit to India. Apple sees India as its primary growth driver in the next decade, and is making changes to its strategy for the country. Besides the devices itself, Apple has announced a technology development center in Hyderabad with a focus on maps, and an iOS app design and development accelerator, which will come up in Bengaluru next year.
Source: bgr.in
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