Samsung vs Apple: The game of musical chairs continues

The fight for supremacy in the premium smartphone segment between Samsung and Apple continues to create ripples in the Indian market. During the past two years, the war has attracted enough attention and evoked excitement among technology device freaks in the country. And in the latest round of the fight, Samsung again proved its dominance over Apple in the first half of the year.

According to the latest data, during January and April, 2016, Samsung’s market share in the above Rs 30,000 price segment rose to 46%, compared to Apple’s 42%. The stark contrast and changing of leadership position on a regular basis can be traced in the fact that during the four months, preceding the period mentioned above, Apple used to hold similar market share and used to be chased by Samsung. During September and December, 2015, Apple’s market share in the premium segment was nearly 48%.

While increasing promotion and distribution focus is usually attributed to such periodic changes in leadership positions in the fast growing domestic market. Analysts point out that there is a pattern visible in these changes.

According to Neil Shah, director, Counterpoint Research, Samsung gains the leadership position in the segment during February and August every year. Arch-rival Apple, on the other hand, overtakes the Korean major September onwards, when its flagship launches take place and creates much hype and enthusiasm among aspirants. For the past two years, the trend is visible, he says.

Its last two flagship launches – iPhone 6 & 6 plus and iPhone 6S and 6S Plus – entered the Indian market in October 2014 and October 2015, respectively. “A new launch from Apple increases sale of its previous models as well. People who aspire to own an iPhone but cannot afford usually go for older models such as iPhone 5S and iPhone 4,” Faisal Kawoosa from CyberMedia Research said.

Samsung, on the other hand, usually comes up with its flagship devices in the March-June period. This year, it launched its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge in March, which helped it gain significant market share and sale of S6 Plus and S6 Edge plus, the previous two flagship models, surged. “This gave a clear advantage to Samsung,” an industry analyst said.

Samsung, as a tactic this year, kept its flagship models lower than its previous launches, although the handsets are superior in terms of features and hardware. It also enjoys the advantage of being in the market for over a decade and being a market leader in the industry. “The company has 1,50,000 selling points to showcase and sell its products. This is a clear advantage as people who come to buy home appliances to these outlets are also prospective buys who can be targeted easily,” an industry executive said.

"Now, it remains to be seen how long they can hold on to their position. And whether the pattern that has emerged in the past two years, changes in 2016,” the analyst mentioned above said. Read More