OnePlus Hailed As India’s #1 Premium Android Smartphone; Samsung Beats Xiaomi In Ranking (Survey)

A report from Techarc Premium Smart Tech Survey indicates that OnePlus has emerged as the premium Android smartphone brand of choice in India.

Techarc Premium Smart Tech Survey

 In other product categories such as smart TVs, TWS earbuds and Smart Watch, defining premium smart tech, the brand is in the leading position.

It was found that the trend towards building a smart tech lifestyle is getting stronger, during a study conducted by Techarc among the premium Android users.

While defining this lifestyle, users are buying multiple devices with the smartphone being the hub, while smart TV, TWS Earbuds and Smart Watch, the other three key devices. 

Besides this, there is also an incremental increase in the adoption of other smart home devices which are adding to a holistic, smart, and premium experience. 

“In the premium segment, overall experience and pedigree of the brand are as important as the features and specifications being offered. Over the years, OnePlus has balanced all these critical aspects well, earning itself the aspirational value within the Android ecosystem,” said Faisal Kawoosa, Chief Analyst at Techarc while sharing the key insights.

Further added, “Today, premium users are willing to trust OnePlus in other devices like Smart TV and TWS Earbuds recognizing its performance in smartphones. However, it should focus additionally on Smart Watch. Additionally, while Samsung maintains its incumbent stature, Xiaomi is a new entrant in the zone,”.

The seamless connectivity among these devices is extremely critical in delivering the desired experience,  according to the 2 out of every 3 premium users who participated in the surveys.

They appreciate these devices being able to ‘talk’ to each other for which they should not be required to do a pro-level effort or buy some additional hardware / accessory.

Premium Smart Tech Lifestyle Highlights

More than 1 of every 3 users find brand name as an important factor helping them to ascertain the premium outlook of a brand, across all the devices.

Without any dilution, OnePlus has emerged as a premium brand since its inception, compared to Samsung which is spread across segments catering to different user groups. 

At the same time, Xiaomi, also has a similar challenge to overcome being the new brand in the zone.

Seamless connectivity as a critical factor in delivering the desired experience, expressed by the 2 out of 3 premium users as they want anytime, anywhere, any device kind of experience which can only be achieved by seamless connectivity of these gadgets to share content as well as control other devices.

 The preference of users in the premium segment is to buy from the brands which are also able to offer the best quality along with top-notch features and specifications. 

That is why the brands that have specialisation in respective products are purchased more compared to  those that are only tagged as ‘premium’.

Interestingly, the premium users are primarily buying devices through online channels. 

Contrary to that, there is a growing preference for brand exclusive retail stores in the offline medium.

Coming to the survey, it was administered through online mode about 1500 premium android users of 4 key smart tech products of smartphone, smart TV, TWS earbuds and smart watch. 

Further, a structured questionnaire was designed to capture views from users owning a smartphone of Rs 25,000 or above which was conducted among a fairly distributed sample representing a blend of socio-economic profile dwelling in metro (62%) and non-metro (38%) cities and towns.