Smartphone ownership trends in India: 91mobiles Smartphone Buyers Insights Survey 2022

We take a closer look at the trends in smartphone ownership and how they have changed since last year

• By team91 -
Published On: May 23, 2022

We're back with yet another edition of our Smartphone Buyers Insights Survey to give you an idea of how people in India buy smartphones. The smartphone segment in India is bustling with new launches every other week, with new brands entering the space and new technologies being introduced on a regular basis. We conducted a survey with over 15,000 participants to understand trends in smartphone ownership, brand loyalty, how people decide on a new smartphone, and so on.

In this article, we take a closer look at the trends in smartphone ownership and how they have changed since last year.

Trends in smartphone ownership

Smartphone brands people own today

• Unsurprisingly, Samsung remains the most popular smartphone brand in India, with 17.4 percent of our survey participants owning a Samsung phone. That said, the brand seems to be facing a threat to its position from Apple.

• Apple has gained the most ownership share between April 2021 and April 2022. As per our survey data, 14.3 percent of people own an Apple smartphone, a major jump from 7 percent last year. The reason behind this seems to be the price drops on older iPhones following the launch of iPhone 13 series, as well as the launch of the affordable iPhone SE 3.

• While Samsung is still at the top in terms of ownership, the reality is that the brand's ownership share has been on the decline. The percentage of people owning a Samsung phone has dropped from 22.8 percent to 17.4 percent.

• Vivo has also seen a noticeable gain in ownership from 7.2 percent last year to 11.2 percent in 2022. Vivo has been expanding its portfolio in India rapidly this past year and the brand introduced the Vivo T1, an affordable 5G smartphone.

• Realme and OnePlus saw marginal gains in ownership, which is surprising considering the two brands have launched several devices over the past year, especially affordable 5G handsets under the Narzo and Nord series.
• Xiaomi and Samsung have both seen a decline in ownership. Motorola and Honor are also on the decline. The latter makes sense as Honor did not launch any new phone in India since 2020.

Which smartphone brand do people want to own next

• Apple is definitely looking to replace Samsung as the most popular smartphone brand in India. According to our survey, over 25 percent of participants want to own an Apple iPhone next. This is the biggest change in brand ownership in 2022. OnePlus comes in second with 15.2 percent looking to own a OnePlus phone next.
• Overall, we see Apple gaining in brand preference year on year, which is likely due to older iPhones getting discounted, especially during major Amazon and Flipkart sales, as well as the launch of the iPhone SE 3 as an entry-level iPhone.