'Hey Siri, Which is India's No.1 Premium Smartphone?' Asks OnePlus as it Trolls Apple

In recent times, Apple has been the main recipient of such trolling from fierce rivals Huawei and Samsung at different times. Now, OnePlus India's social media account on Wednesday reached out to its followers via a Twitter post. The post showed a banner stating: "Hey Siri, which is India's No.1 Premium Smartphone?" And the caption read: "iDare". Gutsy!

According to the Counterpoint report, OnePlus recorded highest ever shipments ever in Q4 2018 and maintained lead in the premium phone segment for three consecutive quarters. It is very much evident that OnePlus is clearing mocking Apple's iPhone. As a reminder, Apple iPhones have been ruling the premium smartphone space, both domestic as well as international markets. OnePlus had about 36% market share in the quarter whereas Apple and Samsung market share in the segment in India stood at 30% and 26% respectively.

The overall global smartphone market declined for the first time in 2018, registering 4 percent drop from 1,558.8 million unit shipments in 2017 to 1,498.3 million units 2018, Counterpoint Research said on Thursday. The fourth quarter smartphone shipments for 2018 recorded a decline of 7 percent, marking it the fifth consecutive quarter of smartphone decline. Samsung had 19 percent share, followed by Apple and Huawei, both at 14 percent, globally. Xiaomi with 8 percent market share was fourth.

"The decline in smartphone shipments can be attributed to lengthening replacement cycles in developed markets like US, China and Western Europe," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research. Smartphone original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) tried to push sales by adding features such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), multiple camera assemblies, full-screen displays and in-screen fingerprint scanners, etc.