32.5 million. That’s the number of smartphone unit shipments in India in the first quarter of this year, as per Statista. That’s a mind-boggling figure, and via the tech review Smartphone User Insights Survey 2020, we’ve been trying to get into the minds of the users and prospective buyers. The survey received over 15,000 responses, and based on the analysis of the data, we’ve been able to draw up quite a few insights. These pertain to aspects like ownership trends, brand loyalty, aspects that matter, how users shortlist and how they buy their smartphones. In this post, we’ll be focussing on aspects related to the actual purchase, how people buy, and how they pay for these devices.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Rs 10k-Rs 20k price segment is the most popular among smartphone buyers in India
- Almost 50% users prefer buying smartphones online, up from 44% last year
- Almost 40% respondents said they’d opt for EMIs when buying a new smartphone
- 30% would opt for extended warranty
Based on the amounts people paid for their current smartphones, we can safely say that the Rs 10k-Rs 20k price segment is the most popular, given that 55 percent users own smartphones in that bracket. The budget segment, with smartphones priced south of Rs 10k, makes up about 19 percent of users. 13 percent users own smartphones priced between Rs 20k and Rs 30k, while another 13 percent own handsets priced above Rs 30k. Clearly, Rs 10k-20k bracket is where the most action is at, and that’s also the most dynamic segment in terms of the smartphone options available. Most smartphone brands like Samsung, Realme and Xiaomi, and others, have some compelling contenders available in that segment.
Worth noting is the fact that last year, 44 percent users had said they’d buy online, so a larger chunk of people seem to be now taking the online route. Secondly, our latest survey data is pre-COVID, so there’s a good chance that the percentage of people who’d prefer buying a new smartphone through online sources would has increased further. And while 40 percent said they’d prefer buying offline last year, the same number has dropped to 28 percent this time.
While 60 percent users said they prefer paying the full amount upfront, a significant 37 percent said they’d opt for EMIs. Within this, there are 27 percent who’d opt for EMIs on credit or debit cards, while 14 percent said they’d opt for cardless EMI solutions like ZestMoney or Bajaj Finserv.
Here are a few related points when the data is broken up by factors like age and gender:
- Turns out, people aged below 25 are more likely to pay the full amount upfront as compared to older age groups. The theory here is that the younger lot might not have regular sources of incomes, and could be using their parents’ money or saved up cash to buy smartphones.
- People aged between 25 and 44 are more likely to buy smartphones on EMI. Since most of these are likely to be employed and have a regular source of income, this would make sense.
- Men are more likely to buy a new smartphone on EMI as compared to women.
Turns out, more than half of the users want to retain their own smartphones with them, ostensibly to keep them as spare / backup options in case something happens to the new one, or to pass them on to family members. About a fourth of the surveyed users said they’d want to exchange their old smartphones to get the new phone at a lower price. 13 percent said they’d sell their old devices offline, 6 percent said they’d sell on OLX or Quikr, while 4 percent said they’d sell the used phone online on Cashify. On a related note, the data shows that people aged above 35 are most likely to exchange their old smartphones to get a discount on their new device, as compared to other age groups.