After budget smartphones, Chinese brands could dominate premium segment in India

Remember how the onslaught of Chinese vendors in the budget segment made the sub-10,000 to Rs 15000 market rather interesting. Initially, Chinese companies introduced budget devices with superior features. Soon, the trend shifted towards gradually increasing the price range above Rs 20,000. Yet, these devices offered value for money. That’s how some of the popular device makers are on the path to destruct the premium market. And, looks like, it is happening sooner than expected. In a new CMR study (via PTI) about premium market space in India, Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst, Telecoms at CMR said, “After successfully rippling the low and entry-level smartphone market, the high-end smartphone market will be now shaken by the emerging brands.” According to the report, in 2015 Apple and Samsung enjoyed the top spots at 44 percent and 27.3 percent, respectively. But, other high-end phone makers like Sony and HTC slipped by 8.3 and 7.6 percent, respectively. OnePlus made a grand entry into the top 5, and the report expects others like Huawei, Vivo, and Gionee to make inroads soon. We’ve already seen IDC report pointing at the growth of companies like Oppo and Vivo , while Xiaomi had managed to surpass Apple and Samsung in terms of marketshare in India, albeit for a short period between October - December 2014. This also indicates the changing attitude towards Chinese brands, and the trust factor and value build over the overs that people are willing to spend a hefty amount for these brands. Out of the 164 brands,only 19 shipped devices in the high-end segment. Xiaomi that started off with cheaper sub-rs 7000 to Rs 12,000 devices, now has the Mi 5 sporting a higher price around Rs 25,000, then the OnePlus 3 also comes with a price tag way higher than its predecessors. You can read our OnePlus 3 and Xiaomi Mi 5 reviews. The report also predicts that about 70 percent of users will opt for an upgrade to a high-end smartphone instead of simply looking for a device in the same price range. This will result into a jump by 19 percent this years, going by the CMR report. “The high-end smartphone market is expected to grow 19% in 2016 as against 15% in the previous year,” Kawoosa said.