Value-for-money smartphones which offer top-of-the-line specifications at an affordable price point are becoming more and more popular, especially in emerging countries. Consumers are now looking at four major features — RAM, chipset, camera performance, and battery life.

One brand that seems to be ticking all the boxes for a majority of the users is OnePlus. The company has been the leading smartphone brand in the premium segment in India for quite some time and as per the latest report from Counterpoint Market Monitor Service says that the brand leads the segment in 2018 as well.

According to Counterpoint’s report for Q4 2018, the company has managed to capture 36 percent of the premium smartphone market retaining its No. 1 position for the third quarter consecutively. The report further adds that in the same quarter, Apple and Samsung’s market share in the premium smartphone segment in India stood at 30 percent and 26 percent respectively.

It notes that the demand for the OnePlus 6T — the company’s latest flagship smartphone — was high during Diwali festive season sale in India and the momentum continues even after the festive season due to strong word of mouth and product feedback from the users.

Overwhelmed with this feat, OnePlus took to Twitter to troll Apple. The company’s tweet announcing the achievement didn’t directly call out Apple but it made reference to Apple’s voice assistant Siri. The tweet employed Apple’s style of capitalization in writing the words “iDare you”. It also took a dig at Apple saying, “Hey Siri, which is India’s No. 1 Premium Smartphone?”

For the company, OnePlus was the highest selling smartphone for the year 2018, followed by the recently launched OnePlus 6T. The company was named as the fastest growing premium smartphone brand, growing at around 85 percent year-on-year.

OnePlus has also managed to widen the gap with its nearest competitor by 10 percent. The company is also expected to reach a wider user base with its expansion into the offline space as well as with its exclusive experience store.

Read More: OnePlus 5/5T OxygenOS Open Beta 24/26 OTA update halted due to some critical issues

The latest smartphone from the company — OnePlus 6T is currently available in India in three configurations — 6GB RAM + 128GB internal storage, 8GB RAM + 128GB storage, and 8GB RAM with 256GB internal storage.

The 6GB RAM model is priced at Rs. 37,999 while the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage model is available for Rs. 41,999 (~$591) . The top-end model, on the other hand, is priced at Rs. 45,999 (~$637). The OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition with 10GB RAM is priced at Rs. 59,999, which roughly converts to $844.

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Samsung has made its way to the top in premium smartphone segment in India in the month of August, thanks to the stellar success of the Galaxy Note 9.

According to the report from data research firm Gfk, Samsung dominated the Indian premium smartphone segment with around 60 percent market share by value and 62.5 percent market share by volume.

The report further adds that Samsung not only led the Rs. 40,000 (approximately $544) and above segment but also reported a 55.5 percent market share by value and 55 percent market share by volume in the Rs. 30,000 and above segment in August.

Commenting on this development, Aditya Babbar, general manager, Samsung India, said:

We are extremely happy with the way our numbers are growing. We are bullish on further consolidating our leadership position in the Indian smartphone market. Our aim is to grow at 20-25 per cent in India in the festive quarter (October-December).

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was launched in India in August in two variants. The base variant ships with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage for Rs 67,900 (~$923), while the top-end variant packs 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for a price of Rs 84,900 (approximately $1,153).

A couple of months ago, a report from research firm Counterpoint had said that Chinese phone manufacturer OnePlus was the top smartphone company in the premium smartphones market (Rs 30,000 and above) in the second quarter of 2018 with over 40 percent market share.

Lately, Samsung has been focusing on the mid-range segment as well, and is launching devices with some unique features. Recently, the South Korean giant launched Galaxy A7 (2018), which features a triple-camera setup on the back, something that’s not usually found in a mid-range phone.

Read More: Samsung to reportedly preview its foldable smartphone next month

The company is has also scheduled a launch event on 11th October, where Samsung is all-set to launch a new Galaxy-A series smartphone, likely Galaxy A9, bearing four camera sensors.

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