Apple vs Samsung: See which smartphones Indians are buying

Apple’s market share in India has expanded while rival Samsung has struggled with its sales numbers taking a hit yet again, showed data from market intelligence firm International Data Corporation (IDC).

Apple’s market share grew by 58.5% year-over-year for the third quarter of 2024 (July to September), while Samsung’s market share fell by 19.7% year-over-year for the same period.

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The total market share of Apple was 8.6% during the same period, as compared to 5.7% for the same period of the previous year. For Samsung, the total share went down to 12.3% from 16.2% earlier.

Apple also had its biggest quarter of shipments with 4 million units, mostly of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 13 models. It was also the second largest player in the online channel.

India’s smartphone market in itself, grew 6% year-over-year, and shipped 46 million units, according to IDC. Online shipments grew by 8% year-over-year and its share increased to 51% from 50% earlier, meaning more than half of smartphone sales of the surveyed brands are through online channels now.

“Growth in the biggest quarter of the year was fueled by attractive discounts, multiple financing options, extended device warranty and cashback/bank offers across both online/offline channels,” said Upasana Joshi, Senior Research Manager of Devices Research at IDC Asia Pacific.

She added that the launch of several new 5G smartphones also drove demand and that “one of the biggest draws during the eTailer sales was the attractive discounts on last year’s flagship models from Apple and Samsung.”

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Motorola showed the highest growth rate among all phone manufacturers, registering a growth of 149.5%, but reaching a market share of just 5.7% from 2.4% earlier.

OnePlus showed the steepest decline in sales, falling 39.3% to reach a market share of 3.6% from 6.2% earlier.

Vivo currently has the highest market share among the brands surveyed, at 15.8%. It also grew 20% from the same period last year.

For the fourth quarter forecast, Navkendar Singh, AVP of Devices Research at IDC said, “Cyclical dip in demand after the festive period and high shipments in 3Q24 will result in higher stock levels across channels in 4Q24,” and that “India’s smartphone market is expected to exit 2024 with a low single-digit annual growth.”

“We should also expect more affordable offerings and high decibel marketing around Gen AI features on smartphones in 2025,” he added.

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