New Delhi: Riding on its flagship OnePlus 7 series , Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus captured its highest-ever shipment share of 43% in the second quarter (Q2) to become the leader in the premium segment ( ₹30,000 and above) in India, Counterpoint Research said on Wednesday.

OnePlus debuted into the ultra-premium segment ( ₹45,000 and above) with OnePlus 7 Pro and immediately captured 26% share.

"This ultra-premium segment is a subset of the overall premium segment and usually led by Samsung and Apple. With healthy sales of Samsung Galaxy S10-series, OnePlus 7 Pro and Apple iPhone XR the volumes in this segment almost doubled,' said Karn Chauhan, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Samsung dropped to the second position in the overall premium-segment, holding 22% share with volumes declining 16% (year-on-year).

Overall, smartphone shipments in the premium segment grew an impressive 33% annually in India — way above the single-digit overall smartphone shipment growth during Q2 2019.

View Full Image India's premium smartphone shipment share. Source: Counterpoint

Apple's volumes in this segment doubled annually in Q2 2019 driven by iPhone XR thanks to the price correction in April.

"Apple is also doubling down on its efforts to localize local manufacturing which will help them save 20% on import duties and can potentially pass on to consumers or use it to build its retail footprint and upcoming festive season discounting/marketing," Chauhan noted.

In the case of Samsung, promotions for the S10 series remain strong.

"Galaxy S10 Plus was the top model for Samsung despite the availability of cheaper Galaxy S10e. This shows that India consumers are ready to pay more for a premium experience," said Chauhan.

Second quarter was the first-ever one when premium segment had the highest number of models, offering wide variety of choice for consumers.

"As more brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo and Huawei enter this segment, this segment is going to be hyper-competitive in the second half of 2019," informed Chauhan.

The combined share of OnePlus, Samsung and Apple was 85% during the second quarter, down from 88% level a year ago.

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