The formation of the Indian smartphone market is a question that does not have a simple answer. And in order to find it, you may have to rely heavily on hindsight. The flagships are almost in line, and Xiaomi is the only phone maker to place its pieces to complete the puzzle for the next few months. I’m saying this now. Because the latest data that landed on my desk shows that India’s premium smartphone segment (it itself is wideband). £25,000 £50,000) and super premium band (it’s upwards £50,000) sees continuous growth momentum.
That might mean that people actually have more expenditures (someone who hates living with Emmis hates throwing traditional calculations out of the window) , yet people are buying more expensive smartphones. CyberMedia Research (CMR) data points out that premium phones grew at 10% per year throughout the 2024 calendar year, with 25% increase in phone sales for Super Premium and Uber Premium. In contrast, it’s reasonably priced (it’s a sub £7,000) and £7,000 £25,000 midrange brackets
Points about EMI, or a fleeting monthly installment (another word on a loan), credit card EMI, payment gateway EMI, and in-store fundraising are growing businesses. It reminds me of something Fintech Company Lazypay shared at the end of FAG in 2024. They had the EMI option enabled at checkout. £5,000 £I repaid 1,00,000 between three months and a year. “The integration will allow Payu’s 5 Lakh companies’ extensive merchant base to offer flexible checkout options to millions of customers,” an official estimate.
I have no worries about this trend, the trajectory of premium mobile phones, and the perception of aspirations. Data tells us a lot. What I’m wondering is the basis of this purchasing power. Lazypay estimates that India’s digital credit adoption will reach £By 2026, it will be 7.6 trillion yen. It probably holds the answer.
According to CY2024’s CMR Indian Mobile Handset Market Review Report, Xiaomi (18% share in 2024), Samsung (17% share), Vivo (17% share), and OPPO (11% share) are the market share He is leading the way in terms of field. It’s a big picture. The subplot includes Vivo, who took the decisive lead in smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2024, with an 18% share. This is an increase from 16% year-on-year. Xiaomi continues with a 15% share, but is down from a 19% rise in the same period last year. Samsung also ended the fourth quarter of 2024 from 19%, falling by 15% share. Apple has grown from a 6% share to 11% of the pie. This was even mentioned by Tim Cook, who was mentioned in his latest quarterly revenue a few days ago. iPhones are often sold in Japan. The next “SE” iPhone is always expected and adds another pricing dynamic (usually worth the money) to your iPhone portfolio.
It’s been a while. The previous iPhone SE was released almost three years ago. The era of touch ID home buttons has since passed. Please look forward to spec parity with the current iPhone 16 lineup. This should give you a baseline for Apple Intelligence.
Be careful, these numbers will mostly include the latest flagship lines I have referenced previously. Oppo probably spent a bit more time on the market with the Find X8 Pro, but here’s what tells us how the Vivo X200 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra exists:
There is also a story of despair in this space. None of them will surprise me. Transsion Group is essentially a company selling phones under the Itel, Infinix and Tecno brands, down 13% year-on-year.
What’s going on here is the next few quarters of crystal ball, so smartphone makers are saying what buyers actually want (solid spec sheets, photo performance, with some names) and they You have to find an alignment between what you think you need (photo performance). (only artificial intelligence). The latter begins a conversation, but it is unlikely to sell many mobile phones on its own. But it’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of the entire AI. See how this pans out. Next to Xiaomi. I hope that it will be expected in a few weeks for the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra Phone (if that naming scheme continues).
Vishal Mathur is HT’s technology editor. Tech Tonic is a weekly column examining the impact of people’s technology on how we live, and vice versa. The views expressed are personal.
