In India's high-end mobile phone market, Samsung, Apple and Canada have formed a tripartite situation, but now, Samsung and Canada are gradually overtaking Apple and occupying a dominant position.

On January 30, Counterpoint, a market research organization, released a report on the Indian high-end smartphone market in 2018. According to the report, shipments of mobile phones in India's high-end market reached an all-time high in 2018, up 8% compared with 2017.

In India, high-end mobile phones are defined as mobile phones with retail prices of more than 30,000 rupees (about $400). Among them, Samsung, Yijia and Apple accounted for about 90% of the total market share in 2018, of which Samsung ranked first with 34% market share, one plus market share was 33%, while Apple's market share was 23%. Samsung is the highest-volume brand in India's high-end mobile phone market in terms of brand performance, while Plus is the highest-volume brand in the whole year. The difference between the two indicators is that in addition to the general sales volume, the shipment volume also includes the number of products distributed to channel providers. Statistics from

Counterpoint show that Samsung's Galaxy A9 released earlier has become the main driving force for its development in India's high-end market. For Indian users who attach importance to the photo function, the rear four-camera on Galaxy A9 is the biggest selling point. At present, India has become one of the key markets of Samsung. In fiscal year 2018, Samsung India's mobile phone business revenue grew by 37% to 373.49 billion rupees. < p > < p > < p > Yijia surpassed Samsung and Apple with 36% market share in the fourth quarter of 2018, which was the third consecutive quarter in which it took the first place in the market share of high-end mobile phones in India. Counterpoint data show that in 2018, one plus six T is the brand's star model in the Indian market last year, with its high-end market share increasing by 85% year on year.

The Times of India reported that data from the Indian Enterprise Registry showed that revenue in India reached 1.5 billion rupees in fiscal year 2018, a relatively significant increase compared with 379 million rupees in the previous fiscal year, and profits also increased from 9.01 million rupees to 28 million rupees. However, this data has not yet been formally confirmed in one or more respects. As for Apple, only 1.7 million mobile phones were sold in India in 2018, compared with 3.2 million in 2017. This also reflects the current decline of Apple in the Indian market. Perhaps to change the status quo, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with CNBC on January 4 that he would bet on the Indian market in the future. Recently, Cook further indicated that he was still very optimistic about Apple's development in India.

However, the high price of the iPhone has become a major obstacle to Apple's further progress in India. Counterpoint reports that Apple has not yet assembled products locally in India, which means that they have to pay a 20% import tax when they enter the local market; however, if Apple chooses to localize its assembly in 2019, the high pricing situation is expected to improve. In addition to the three major players mentioned above, other brands are also coveting the Indian high-end mobile phone market. The report points out that both Huawei and Google are likely to hit India's high-end market through different operational strategies in 2019, and the competition may become more intense.