42% of Indians intend to buy premium smartphones this festive season: Report

New Delhi: A new report on Thursday showed that around 42 percent of Indians plan to buy a premium smartphone worth Rs 30,000 and above this festive season and about 31 percent of the consumers mentioned upgrading to the latest technology as the key reason for the purchase.

5G, latest processor, and RAM are the top specifications while making the purchase, the report said.

With respect to channel preference, up to 86 percent could purchase online, with Amazon as the top preferred platform, according to Counterpoint Research.

The report stated that the top five reasons for people to prefer Amazon are attractive offers, availability of top brands, availability of latest devices, delivery speed, and reliable delivery.

“With the smartphone becoming the most important electronic gadget, consumers are cautious about its quality and features. That is why they consult multiple sources before making the purchase while increasingly opting for premium smartphones,” said senior analyst Arushi Chawla.

When asked about the top preferred smartphone brand, Samsung was at the top with 33 percent, followed by Apple (18 percent), Xiaomi (11 percent) and OnePlus (10 percent).

“5G will continue to push smartphone demand in the coming years. Its presence has now reached lower price bands (Rs 10,000 and below). Further, it is interesting to see that 20 percent of the respondents prefer switching to online platforms from offline modes, with the top reason for 43 percent of this segment being the availability of the latest devices,” said Research Director Tarun Pathak.

The report also found that 22 percent of the respondents consider cashbacks or rewards as their top preferred offer when making a smartphone purchase. This is followed by bank offers (21 percent) and no-cost EMI (16 percent).

With inputs from IANS