For the first time ever, OnePlus surpasses Samsung to lead the premium smartphone market in India

According to the latest analysis of the Indian smartphone market by Counterpoint Research, OnePlus surpassed Samsung to lead the premium smartphone segment for the first time ever for a full quarter.

For the second quarter of this year (Q2 2018), OnePlus led the premium smartphone segment for the first time ever in India, capturing 40% of the market driven by the debut of its latest device, the OnePlus 6. OnePlus was also the fastest growing brand in the premium segment (+446%) while shipments for Apple and Samsung declined YoY.

Interestingly, a few days ago, it was reported that Samsung has bounced back in the overall Indian smartphone market, after being displaced from the top spot it has held for a long time by Xiaomi.

Now at number two, Samsung captured 34% share of the premium segment with shipments declining 25% YoY due to decline in shipments of Samsung Galaxy S9 as compared to Galaxy S8 last year. Interestingly, Apple’s share in the premium segment in the last quarter (14%) is its lowest ever due to decline in shipments of iPhone 8 and iPhone X.

In terms of smartphones, OnePlus 6 was the best-selling model in premium segment, pretty much why it catapulted the brand to the top of the leaderboard.

Earlier, the company had shared that it sold one million OnePlus 6 units around the world in just 22 days making it the fastest selling device in the company’s history. India remains an important market for OnePlus, contributing to almost a third of its global revenue.

The OnePlus 6 was followed by Galaxy S9 Plus and OnePlus 5T. The latter was pushed aggressively by OnePlus during the first half of the quarter to clear off the inventory to make way for OnePlus 6.

The top three brands Samsung, OnePlus, and Apple contributed to 88% of the overall premium market as compared to 95% a quarter ago due to new players in the segment led by HUAWEI (P20), vivo (X21), HMD Global (Nokia 8 Sirocco) as well as LG (V30 Plus). In the last few months, brands like ASUS, HUAWEI, and vivo have launched premium smartphones in India to take on the OnePlus 6.