OnePlus‘ foray into the US market has started yielding fruits. A report by Counterpoint shows that the Chinese company made an entry into the top 5 highest selling phones globally in the premium phone category in 2018. This is the first time the company is achieving this feat and it is instructive to note that it is coming at the same time the company as making it into the top 5 rankings in the US in the same category. The company also made a dominant push in India in this category, ranking behind Samsung with a 36% market share.However, it is still nowhere near the top 5 in China where there are several competitors in that segment.
China and US boast of the two largest markets for premium phones and both countries account for 50% market share for premium phones. Other OEMs in this category include Apple with a 51% market share, Samsung with a 22% market share, Huawei with 10% and OPPO with a 6% share, in that order. OnePlus completes the ranking with a lump 2% market share. Strong sales of the OnePlus 6T accounted for the increase in market share, with China, India, and Western Europe driving 90% of its global shipments. The report also showed that the top 5 firms accounted for nearly 90% of the total premium models shipped globally even though there are up to 40 OEMs catering to this segment.
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For clarity, the premium category is made up of phones selling for $400 and above. All through the year 2018, OPPO saw a massive 863% YoY increase in market share in this segment, with OnePlus coming in second with a 209% increase in market share. Xiaomi also saw a healthy 149% surge in market share in the premium segment, and overall the category accounted for 22% of all smartphone sales in 2018. It is worthy to note that Samsung and Apple’s market shares slumped slightly YoY while those of the remaining three OEMs, Huawei, OPPO and OnePlus experienced some gains YoY. We expect this trend to continue this year as interests in “affordable flagships” with powerful hardware and prices around $600 continue to rise. Huawei is hoping its premium phones will drive sales despite joining Samsung is selling its flagships above $1000. OnePlus is expected to consolidate on its gains by pumping in more phones. This year the company may likely launch more than the traditional two phones. With the OnePlus 7, and OP7 Pro already leaked, the Oneplus 7T still remains a possibility as well. Even though the prices may be jerked up slightly, we don’t see them hitting the $1000 mark.
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