Apple leads premium smartphone segment in Q3 2018: Counterpoint

According to Counterpoint Research, the global, premium smartphone segment grew faster (+19 percent) than the overall smartphone segment (-5 percent) in Q3 2018. Growth was driven by new iPhones and flagship launches of Chinese players like OPPO and vivo.

It said Apple led the global premium smartphone segment capturing 47 percent share of the segment, followed by Samsung (22 percent), Huawei (12 percent), vivo (5 percent), OPPO (5 percent) and Xiaomi (3 percent).

The firm also notes that in the $400-$600 price-band was the sweet spot as it contributed 46 percent to the total premium segment by volume. Overall the premium smartphone segment represented 22 percent of the global smartphone market share during Q3 2018.

The firm said close to 40 OEMs compete in the premium segment globally, out of which the top five players account for almost 89 percent of shipments.

Meanwhile, OnePlus remains one of the fastest growing brands in the $400-$600 segment.

OnePlus sales were driven by India, China, and the UK. In India, OnePlus continues to lead the premium smartphone segment for the second successive quarter capturing 30 percent of the market driven by the strong performance of its OnePlus 6. It was also amongst the top five premium smartphone OEMs in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and UK due to strong initial sales of the OnePlus 6.

"We estimate that the premium smartphone segment will grow in Q4 2018 driven by a full quarter of sales of new iPhones. We further expect that vertically integrated companies will leverage their expertise to gain share in the segment. In terms of distribution, premium brands sales are skewed in favor of offline retail. The major MNOs and multichannel stores remain the primary channel for these devices. This is especially true in European markets," " Tarun Pathak, Associate Director with Counterpoint Technology Market Research said.

Pathak said, "This share has been gradually increasing as independent retail stores have been under pressure due to the operators moving away from the direct subsidy."

The premium segment growth for OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi was driven by performances in China. For OnePlus and Huawei, growth was generated outside China. OPPO R17 and Find X drove volumes for OPPO while X23 and Nex series did well for vivo.