After several quarters, Harping on the success of its latest models like Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, Note Edge and Galaxy A7, Samsung achieved about 46% share in the segment. Apple clocked about 42% share.
This has set the stage for a battle in India between the world's two largest smartphone makers.
Four industry officials, quoting numbers from Counterpoint Research, a market tracker, said that Samsung achieved aforesaid percent share in four months.
Counterpoint Research, citing client confidentiality, refused to comment on the numbers.
Meanwhile, Apple has now taken the battle to another level by relaxing its global norm in India of maintaining one price in a single market, with its distributors encouraging trade partners to sell at a discount, both online and offline.
As per Economic Times, the US bellwether notched up record iPhone sales of 1 million units in India in the seven months ended April 30, equivalent to the number sold in its previous financial year of October-September 2014. It is pushing for sales of 2 million iPhones in India in this financial year.
"After a long time, Samsung and Apple are gearing up for a marketing fight in India, including consumer promotions. Apple has already launched cashback offer on easy EMI while Samsung, too, has informed it will soon start a cashback offer on Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge to gain share at any cost," CEO of a leading cellphone retailing chain told ET.
Tarun Pathal, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, said strong demand for Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 phones will expand the premium market in the coming months in India.
"With iPhone 6 series, the aspirational value of Apple is higher than ever before in India and the company is building demand even in tier-II cities. In comparison, Samsung is leveraging its distribution network, coupled with strong marketing, which could propel Galaxy S6 series to reach a million units in shipments quicker than iPhone 6 series in almost four months since debut," Pathak told the financial daily. Samsung introduced the Galaxy S6 series in mid-April.
As per retailers, Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which launched in October, generated almost 75% of the 1.3 million iPhones sold in India so far while the remainder was driven by older iPhone 5s, 5c and 4s models.
For Samsung, most of the sales were driven by the costlier Galaxy S6 Edge, which has sold more than Galaxy S6. "In fact, India is one of the most successful markets for Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge," one industry official told ET.
Samsung India Electronics Vice-President (Marketing) for mobile business Asim Warsi told ET while the company is unable to disclose any sales figures, its S6 and S6 Edge have helped the brand consolidate its leadership position in the market.
An Apple spokesman told the financial daily the company does not comment on sales of products by individual country and neither does it set prices.
By volume, Apple is a much smaller player with a share of about 2%, compared with market leader Samsung at 28% followed by Micromax at 15%.
(Image: Reuters)