Caller tunes ring doubly loud for the Rs 1 lakh plus smartphones

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Smartphones that have emerged somewhat of a bellwether for discretionary consumption in the country have displayed a spurt in spending with an astounding more than doubling of demand in the category that exceed the Rs 1 lakh price barrier in the April-June quarter, The Economic Times has reported.

The following factoids have emerged from a scan of the smartphones market by Counterpoint Research – premium smartphones constitute 17% of the overall market, The Rs 1 lakh-plus segment form 8% share of  Rs 1 lakh-plus phones premium segment.

More interesting, there has been a virtual race for grabbing market share in this segment that obviously offer higher margins. This segment is dominated by MNCs such as Apple and Samsung. But their success has prompted Chinese manufacturers such as OnePlus, Oppo and Tecno to launch flagship ultra-premium handsets.

The demand for the Rs 1 lakh-plus segment is not confined to the affluent segment only. Wide availability of consumer financing schemes has triggered consumption in this category in small towns too. Retailers told the newspaper that demand for the recently-launched iPhone 15 Pro series has doubled. These models are priced well over Rs 1 lakh.

Retailers stated that the demand has been so high that they are unable to satiate it.

The Koren giant Samsung has witnessed more than 50% growth in the sales of its new Flip, Fold and Ultra smartphones compared to their previous models last year.

Requesting anonymity, a leading retail chain admitted that it is yet to deliver a few hundred iPhone 15 Pro handsets that were pre-booked. The waiting period for the Pro series is running to three to four weeks in the Apple-owned webstore.

The share of the Pro series to Apple’s total sales of the new iPhone 15 series has risen to a record 30%. It was a mere 15% in the case of iPhone 14 series that was launched in 2022.

Samsung’s new Flip 5 and Fold 5 went on sale in mid-August. It costs up to Rs 1,84,999. It recorded pre-bookings of as many as 150,000 handsets. The earlier generation handsets had 100,000 pre-bookings.

“Consumers today are spoilt for choice in ultra-premium smartphones, with not just Apple and Samsung, but even brands like 3% Oppo and Tecno entering into it. This will grow the market for such handsets with real innovation. Not just the rich, but consumers across income levels are buying such handsets, thanks to easy availability of consumer finance,” said Chandu Reddy, director at Sangeetha Mobiles, a leading phone retail chain in the South.

On Tuesday (3 October), OnePlus founder Pe te Lau said the brand will very soon launch its first foldable phone. It is rumoured to be priced way over a lakh.

Damyant Singh Khanoria, chief marketing officer of Oppo India, said they are expecting a doubling of sales of its foldable model, Find N3 Flip, that will soon be launched.

According to Counterpoint Technology Market Research director Tarun Pathak, sales of ultra-premium handsets will scale record highs. “These handsets are further driving the premiumisation trend. It will push up the average selling price of smartphones in India to around Rs 22,000 from Rs 20,000 last year,” he said.

According to the latest Counterpoint report, premium smartphones (priced Rs 30,000-plus) grew by 112% in April-June. However, the overall market contracted on a year-on-year basis. Premium smartphone contribution has gone up to 17% of the overall market.