Samsung Electronics claimed the No. 1 spot in the premium smartphone market in India, beating its arch rival Apple, according to a report compiled by research institute Counterpoint Research on Friday.
The Seoul-headquartered smartphone-maker captured 46 percent of the country’s luxury smartphone market during the January-April period, buoyed by robust sales of the Galaxy S6 and its variant S6 Edge, the Note 4 Edge, and the A7, according to the report. Apple ranked second with a 42 percent share.
The luxury market refers to products with price tag of above $460 per unit.
“With iPhone 6 series, the aspirational value of Apple is higher than ever before in India and the company is building demand even in tier-II cities,” said senior analyst Tarun Pathak from the research firm.
“In comparison, Samsung is leveraging its distribution network, coupled with strong marketing, which could propel Galaxy S6 series to reach a million units in shipments quicker than iPhone 6 series in almost four months since (its) debut.”
The achievement in the high-end segment is expected to boost Samsung’s prowess in mid-range and low-end segments of the emerging smartphone market.
Outpacing local smartphone-makers including Micromax and Intex, Samsung snagged the largest market share of 22 percent in the Indian smartphone market, research firm IDC said in a recent report.
However, some market analysts warned that Samsung could soon be caught up by Chinese upstarts including Huawei, Xiaomi and Meizu, who are picking up speed to increase their foothold in the Indian market with cheap, but powerful handsets.
Samsung, on its part, is diversifying its product portfolio by releasing a wide range of products tailored to local users.
In the first three months of this, Samsung became the top seller in the budget smartphone market in Bangladesh with the Tizen-powered budget smartphone, Z1, overtaking the local phone-maker Symphony Mobile.
The company is gearing up to release the budget smartphone in other nations, and is anticipated to launch the Z3, the successor of the Z1.
Riding on the success of the S6 and S6 Edge, Samsung also plans to unveil the Galaxy Note 5 in September, which will likely help Samsung to cement its lead in the global high-end smartphone market.
