Samsung has made the lowest (8%) average price increase compared to Apple (20%) in their respective flagship series of smartphones over the years.

Gurugram – Thursday May 2, 2019: As per the latest techINSIGHT analysing the flagship Smartphones of four popular brands in Premium/Luxe categories, the prices have increased with every new launch at an average of 12.9%. Samsung’s Galaxy S series witnessed the lowest increase in pricing at 8% compared to Apple’s iPhone at 20% price rise with every new addition to the flagship series.

The ‘Smartphone Flagships Constellation Map’ exhibits the pricing patterns of four popular brands of Samsung, Apple, OnePlus and Google known for their flagship launches.  Samsung is the only brand which has also decreased the price with new edition launch of the Galaxy S series.  It launched S8 and S9 at the same price of ₹57,900 in 2017 and 2018 respectively.  The recently launched S10 was announced with a 3% reduced price of ₹55,900 comparing the previous edition.

Contrary to this, Apple launched its iPhone X at a whopping 39% increase in the price compared to previous edition of the Smartphone.  This was its 2^nd highest increase in the price after iPhone 5, which was launched in 2013 at an increase of 32% over previous edition.  While Apple does suffer because of the import duty levied on CBUs (Complete Built Units) by the government to encourage domestic manufacturing, it still does not justify the steep price hike Apple did for the most recent flagship launch.  Comparing this Google’s Pixel, which is also a fully CBU level imported Smartphone has only seen 11.7% increase in price with new edition launches of the series.  Incidentally, this is lower than the industry average of 12.9% price rise with new edition of the flagship series.

Commenting on the upcoming flagship launch from OnePlus, Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst, techARC said, “OnePlus has adopted a consistent pricing strategy where it has been increasing the price with every new launch in a regular pattern.  Other brands exhibit irregular pricing strategy as portrayed in the Smartphone Flagships Constellation Map.”

“This has led the brand achieve growth in revenues as well as profitability with consumers getting better experience at incremental price increase,” Faisal added.

The techINSIGHT pegs the ideal price range of upcoming OnePlus 7 starting from ₹37,000 to ₹39,500 projected on the basis of previous pricing pattern adopted by the brand.  OnePlus has increased average 12.6% price with every new flagship launch.

NOTES:

1. The analysis does not include the variants or extension models of the flagship launch.
2. Price comparisons are done for the launch prices and not the market prices.
3. All the models of the flagship series of included brands have been analysed.  Apple did not officially launch iPhone, 1^st edition in India.