Mumbai: Electronics major Samsung is under increasing pressure after losing not just its top spot in the premium segment to Apple in the July-September period, but has been relegated – for the first time ever – to No. 3 behind OnePlus in a segment that is seeing competition like never before, according to an article in The Economic Times.

The South Korean company, however, disputed the findings of Counterpoint Research and said it continued to lead the segment by end-sales.

Analysts say the fight for the top spot in the highend segment – Rs 30,000 and above – is set to heat up further in November with players like Google, Xiaomi and Nokia in the fray, making life for Apple and Samsung – which have historically dominated this segment – far tougher.

Read: Samsung reports $9bn profit, names new executives

Sector watchers expect these brands to offer discounts or bundled offers in this segment to get buyers amid the heightened competition. Apple, for example, is believed to be tying up with Airtel to sell its super premium its super premium product on the telco's recently launched online store.

“Samsung’s share dropped to 31 per cent from 55 per cent in the previous quarter as premium segment (above Rs 30,000) was driven more by Rs 30,000-40,000 band due to OnePlus and older iPhone models, due to which majority of the volume of the segment was skewed towards Rs 30,000-40,000 subsegment where Samsung is not that strong,” said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Read: Xiaomi set to upset Samsung, grows real big in India



Apple led with 35 per cent share in July-September, on the back of iPhone 8, and price cuts on earlier models right after GST. OnePlus followed Apple with 32 per cent backed by sales of OnePlus 5, as per data from the Hong-Kong based firm.



Samsung disputed the agency data saying that the share of phones sold in the market was highest amongst competition. The company's market share by volume was 65.2 per cent and 65.4 per cent by value, in the above Rs 30,000 segment, Samsung India’s senior vice president for mobile business Asim Warsi said, citing data from German research firm GfK which tracks sales to end-consumers.