Despite a worldwide slump in the shipment of smartphones, the premium segment registered an 18% growth in the last year. While Apple and Samsung continued to hold the top two positions, this growth was primarily driven by the surge of Chinese brands such as OnePlus, OPPO, and Xiaomi which were among the fastest growing brands in the premium segment.
A new report from Counterpoint Research highlights that while Apple maintained a noticeably large lead with 51% market share over Samsung with just 22% of the pie, both giants lost a little control the segment in 2018 as compared to the previous year. On the other hand, Chinese brands have been exploring new avenues and making their mark outside of Asian markets and grew significantly. As a result, OPPO saw an astonishing growth of 863% due to the popularity of the OPPO R15 and R17 in China, while OnePlus clocked a 209% growth on the back of OnePlus 6T and recorded its highest ever shipments in the last quarter, besides being India’s top premium brand by shipments for three consecutive quarters.
Share of smartphone brands in the premium segment (2017 vs 2018)
While Xiaomi did not make it to the top five premium brands globally, it registered a 149% growth in the premium segment due to the strong performance of its flagship Mi 8 lineup, including the Mi 8 standard and under-display fingerprint variants, and the Mi 8 Explorer Edition. Meanwhile, Huawei became the third brand after Apple and Samsung to reap a market share in double digits. Its growth can be attributed to the fairly popular the Huawei P20 and the Mate 20 series.
The segment is predicted to grow further in 2019 in double digits, with smartphone manufacturers banking upon innovative designs and 5G connectivity to woo more customers. Aside from the innovation, features including more than two cameras, AI, higher RAM and specifications, and full-screen displays will drive the segment towards this growth and help Chinese manufacturers to fill up the gap between them and Apple even further.
Source: Counterpoint Research
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