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Samsung and Apple topped the first wave of smartphone sales during India’s Christmas season, which lasted from September 26 to October 6.
The success of these tech giants is due to aggressive marketing and deep discounts at online sales events such as Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon India’s Great Indian Festival.
Market trackers estimate that smartphone brands sold devices worth $3 billion during the first phase of sales this festive season.
Samsung leads in volume and value
In the first wave of festive sales, Samsung outperformed other brands in both sales volume and value. This is due to aggressive offers across all price segments on Flipkart and Amazon India.
As the main sponsor of these sales events, Samsung received an additional boost.
tech insights reports that Samsung’s sales volume increased by 17% year-on-year during this sale period, giving it a market share of 20%.
but, study of counterpoint Market share is estimated to be slightly lower at 17-18%.
Apple secures second place with 16% market share
Apple took second place with 16% market share, a significant jump from fourth place in 2023.
The company’s sales increased 44%, largely due to the success of the iPhone 15, which sold more than 1 million units during the 11-day sales period.
Despite posting single-digit unit sales growth during this period, Apple’s iPhone 15 was the best-selling ultra-premium smartphone. study of counterpoint Reported by Tarun Pathak, Associate Director.
Apple dominates the ultra-premium category
With the latest iPhone 16 series available just before the sale festival, Apple was able to attract new buyers.
Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Analyst tech arcobserved that brands that launch products right before such sales events tend to attract more attention from potential buyers.
He also said that more customers were opting for premium smartphones during this period, with sales in the ultra-premium category above Rs 70,000 crossing the 1 million mark for the first time.
Amazon leads online sales with over 55% share
Preliminary estimates by tech arc The first wave of sales shows that $2-2.3 billion worth of smartphones were sold online.
Amazon dominated these online sales with over 55% market share, while Flipkart held the rest.
Kausa also pointed out that “Amazon had a large inventory of best-selling models during this period, which led to an increase in sales.”
He added that most sales were of smartphones priced between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Analysts predict holiday sales to increase by up to 10%
Analysts predict that smartphone sales over the Christmas season will increase by up to 10% year-on-year.
counterpoint According to estimates, sales during the Christmas season are expected to increase by 3% year-on-year and by 9-10% in value terms.
cyber media research (CMR) is forecasting a similar trend of a 10% year-over-year increase in sales volume during this Christmas season, primarily due to increased online shopping.
