Women users prefer Samsung and OPPO smartphones more than men, while Xiaomi and Realme are preferred more by men: study

Highlights
  • Women users seemingly prefer Samsung and OPPO smartphones more than men. Similarly, Xiaomi and Realme are two brands preferred more by men
  • More men seem to care about specs than women, while innovative features matter more to women
  • More men prefer buying online, as compared to women
  • A large percentage of users aged below 18 prefer Xiaomi, while Samsung is preferred more by older users

We’ve just started rolling out a series of blog posts carrying tons of insights from our Smartphone Buyer Insights Survey, and there’s lot more in store. Due to be published over the course of the next few days, you can expect more insights on how users buy smartphones, research patterns, buying behaviour and more. Since the survey included some basic demographics-related questions as well, we were able to splice the data and divide it by factors such as gender and age as well. And here’s how things look based on that.

Related read: How smartphone ownership in India is changing

For one, women users seemingly prefer Samsung and OPPO smartphones more than men. This comes from the survey data point that says 25 percent women use Samsung smartphones in comparison to 21 percent men. Similarly, for OPPO, the numbers are 7 percent women against 6 percent men. The justification for OPPO could be the fact that it has chosen its cameras (specifically selfie capabilities) as the main differentiator for its smartphones. On the other hand, Samsung’s reputation as a premium smartphone brand might have worked in its favour, and gotten users of the fairer sex interested.

In the same vein, we can see that Xiaomi and Realme are two brands preferred more by men. In Xiaomi’s case, the numbers say 23 percent men prefer the brand in comparison to 20 percent women, while for Realme, it’s 11 percent men against 7 percent women. While we don’t know the exact reasons behind this, there are two more insights that could possibly tie into this.

One, more men seem to care about specs than women (35 percent men as compared to 28 percent women), while the fairer sex is more in favour of innovative features. In addition, more men (47.2 percent) prefer buying online, as compared to women (41 percent). These data points appeared as part of our research and buying behaviour segment of the survey, and indicate why brands like Xiaomi and Realme could be more popular among men. These brands play on specs, and use the online retail channel primarily, which could explain why men prefer them more.

We also have some points based on the users’ age. For one, a large percentage of young users (aged below 18) prefer Xiaomi. To be precise, 26 percent of users aged below 18 use Xiaomi. Similarly, Samsung seems to be preferred more by older users, as 25 percent of users between the age of 35 and 44, and 24 percent of users aged above 44 prefer Samsung.

Stay with us as we continue our coverage of the 91mobiles Smartphone Buyer Insights Survey 2020. We have quite a few insights and data that we’ll be revealing in the coming days.

Related read: Apple and OnePlus have the highest customer loyalty