Smartphone wars: Apple highest revenue earner, Samsung is top seller

Apple has emerged as the clear leader in India’s smartphone market in terms of revenue, increasing its lead over nearest rival Samsung. Although Samsung shipped more than double the number of phones in India during the first half of 2024, Apple’s signature product, the iPhone, garnered higher revenues mainly owing to higher Average Selling Price (ASP) of its various models as well as smart marketing.

In H1 2024, US giant Apple earned a total revenue of $4.56 billion shipping 4.8 million iPhones in India. Samsung’s sales figure was more than double, at 9.8 million smartphones, but the South Korean company garnered $3.43 billion in revenue, according to a report from the US-based International Data Corporation (IDC) quoted by The Economic Times.

A reason for Samsung’s downslide is the 15 per cent slump in shipment that the company recorded on a year-on-year basis in the April-June quarter of 2024, besides a fall in ASP from $380 to $313. The brand’s new product Galaxy S24 also performed below expectation compared to the January-March quarter.

In 2023, Apple overtook Samsung in terms of revenue for the first time by a slim margin of $362 million. Apple’s total revenue in India last year was $8.69 billion while Samsung earned $8.33 billion.

In terms of value share, numbers from IDC show Apple commanded 25.9 per cent, up from 23 per cent last year. Samsung’s value share this year has been 19.4 per cent, compared to 22 per cent in 2023.

Samsung ended 2023 as the highest-selling smartphone brand in India in terms of volume but the company faces competition at both ends. While Apple’s strategic marketing of the iPhone, along with burgeoning revenues, could upset Samsung’s position in the high-end market, Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo have been gaining ground in the budget phone segment.