JINGLE ALL THE WAY
THE WEEK India|November 05, 2023
Premiumisation defines urban India's shopping spree this festive season
K. SUNIL THOMAS
JINGLE ALL THE WAY

From hero to zero, before you knew what hit you. In the cut-throat world of smartphones, it has been a recurring story—from Nokia dominating the scene at one time to going ‘crash-boom-bang’, to BlackBerry’s transition from everybody’s buddy to a nobody.

Chinese phone maker Xiaomi would truly understand it. A decade ago, it stole the thunder of desi smartphone brands like Micromax and Lava with a slew of inexpensive but feature-rich smartphones through brands like Redmi, Mi and the sub-brand Poco. It soon became the largest seller of mobile phones in the country. Even the Covid-19 pandemic and the anti-China sentiment post the clashes in Ladakh did not slow it down. But then it got hit by a curious shift in the Indian consumers’ preferences.

About a year ago or so, more and more Indians began coveting premium phones, moving away from Xiaomi’s budget offerings. With the market share of phones costing less than 10,000 falling significantly, Samsung overtook Xiaomi as India’s top-selling phone brand.

Premium smartphones sales more than doubled in the April-June period, while sales of the ultra-premium foldable phones tripled last year. This is when the overall smartphone market declined 3 per cent.

This new trend could solidify now, as Diwali sales hit a crescendo. “Many people time their purchases with the festive season, and they are increasingly opting for premium smartphones,” Arushi Chawla, senior analyst with Counterpoint Research wrote in a blogpost.

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Denne historien er fra November 05, 2023-utgaven av THE WEEK India.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

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