OnePlus Led Indian Premium Smartphone Market in 2019: Counterpoint

Riding on its OnePlus 7 series, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus led the Indian premium smartphone market in 2019 with 33 percent market share.

The company became the first-ever premium smartphone brand surpassing 2 million shipments in a year in India.

Samsung with 26 percent was second while Apple with 25 percent market share came third in the premium segment, according to Counterpoint Research's 'Market Monitor Service for 2019.'

Apple was the fastest growing premium smartphone brand in 2019 with 41 percent (YoY) driven by multiple price cuts on iPhone XR throughout the year.

Overall, the premium smartphone segment in India (above Rs. 30,000) registered its highest ever recorded shipments this year, growing 29 percent in the year.

"2019 has been a remarkable year for us at OnePlus. Every milestone we have achieved strengthened our pursuit for excellence in technology. We will remain dedicated towards creating burden-less and best-in-class user experience," said Pete Lau, Founder and CEO, OnePlus.

OnePlus 7 device emerged as the number one premium smartphone model in 2019.

The contribution of OnePlus' ultra-premium segment to overall OnePlus portfolio grew to a whopping 25 percent in 2019 -- from just 2 percent in 2018.

According to Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst, Counterpoint Research, OnePlus' ongoing retail expansion in India can be attributed to the increased sales volumes.

"Its recent partnerships with renowned retail distributors, as well as successfully extending its unique premium brand experience to retail customers through OnePlus Experience Centers, have played a crucial role in its growth," said Chauhan.

Similarly, the ultra-premium segment (above Rs. 45,000) emerged as the fastest growing segment with 63 percent (YoY) growth.

"OnePlus continues to enjoy strong word of mouth communication from existing users, which also led the brand to have over 5 million strong community in India alone, a substantial number for a premium tech brand," said Chauhan.

Examples of innovations include its adoption of high refresh rate (90Hz), almost bezel-less displays and being first to launch smartphones with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 Series application processor in India.

OnePlus 8 leaks look exciting but when will the phones launch in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.