Apple’s iphone, the world’s most powerful personal device retained a majority in the premium smartphone market in the third quarter of 2018, as it made up 47 percent of all phones sold in it, according to a report compiled by counterpoint Research, a market research company that delivers in-depth intelligence of the technology markets to the mobile industry.
From the report, Apple is still the biggest brand in the premium segment of the smartphone market (defined as phones costing $400 or more).
“Samsung is the second biggest brand, with a total share of 22 percent. On the other hand, this company is also the leader in the $400-600 sub-segment; it sold 25 percent of those phones, whereas Apple, Huawei, Vivo and OPPO sold 21 percent, 17 percent, 10 perent and 7 percent of these units respectively,”
“Apple was also found to lead the $600-800 sub-segment (with a 61 percent share), as well as that for $800+ devices (79 percent). OnePlus was found to be the fastest-growing brand in the market as a whole, however, and remains the market leader in India. It was also among the top 5 premium phone-makers in Europe for this quarter,” the report further stated.
The growth of the market was driven by increased brand diversity; for example, Huawei captured a share of over 10 percent for the first time this year.
The Counterpoint report also indicated that the premium segment benefited from increased competition from a greater number of brands in Third quarter of 2018. And this enabled it to grow by 19 percent, whereas the overall market fell by 5 percent
In addition, Huawei achieved a total premium smartphone market share of 12 percent in the quarter, making it the first time this company had done better than 9 percent in this category.
“On the other hand, this picture may change with data from Fourth quarter of 2018. However, Counterpoint expects this market to continue to grow in this quarter, as it will be driven by holiday sales of devices such as iPhones,” It said.
BUNMI BAILEY
