Based on over 15,000 responses, here are the insights from our Great Indian Smartphone Survey 2021, providing details on aspects like the phone brands people use, the ones they would like to buy next, how satisfied they are with their current handset, and details on their purchase preferences.

1. The Great Indian Smartphone Survey
(August 2021)
Voice of 15,000+ smartphone users
India’s #1 Gadget Discovery Site

2. Key questions asked in the survey
Which brand of smartphone people own currently
How satisfied people are with their current devices
Peoples’ rating on quality of after-sales support
Which smartphone brand people would like to own next
When people are planning to buy their next phone
1
2
3
4
5

3. Demographic split and methodology
Demographic Split of Respondents
Survey Methodology
Gender:
 90% men
 10% women
Age:
 46% below 21 years
 34% between 22 and 34 years
 12% between 35 and 44 years
 08% above 44 years
Region:
 North 34%
 South 26%
 West 26%
 East 14%
 Survey was conducted via Google forms
 For response collection, survey was distributed on 91mobiles’ site and social
channels
Notes:
1) In this report, respondent data from 2020 has been compared with respondent data from 2021, where applicable,
to analyse trends.
2) For slides with more than one graph, each graph is set to its own scale

4. Trends in smartphone ownership

5. Smartphone brands people own today
Samsung is at the top with 21% people owning its smartphones
Breakup of smartphone brands owned by people currently
Samsung, 21.3%
Xiaomi, 20.3%
Realme, 15.0%
Vivo, 8.1%
OnePlus, 7.4%
OPPO, 6.8%
POCO, 4.3%
Apple, 3.2%
Motorola, 2.3%
Huawei / Honor,
1.6%
Nokia, 1.4%
iQOO, 1.3%
ASUS, 1.1%
Other, 5.9%

6. POCO
Realme
10.2%
15.0%
2020 2021
% of people owning Realme
devices
2.1%
4.3%
2020 2021
% of people owning POCO
devices
OnePlus
5.6%
7.4%
2020 2021
% of people owning OnePlus
devices
Smartphone brands that gained in ownership share
(From 2020 to 2021)

7. Samsung
27.2%
21.3%
2020 2021
% of people owning Samsung
devices
Smartphone brands that declined in ownership share
(From 2020 to 2021)
Motorola
3.2%
2.3%
2020 2021
% of people owning Motorola
devices
Vivo
8.7% 8.1%
2020 2021
% of people owning Vivo
devices

8. Xiaomi
20.3% 20.2%
2020 2021
% of people owning Xiaomi
devices
Smartphone brands that declined in ownership share
(From 2020 to 2021)
Nokia
ASUS
1.9%
1.1%
2020 2021
% of people owning ASUS
devices
1.9%
1.4%
2020 2021
% of people owning Nokia
devices

9. Breakup of smartphone brands people plan to buy next*
Samsung, 17.8%
OnePlus, 17.1%
Apple, 14.6%
Realme, 12.2%
Xiaomi, 10.8%
Vivo, 4.3%
POCO, 3.8%
OPPO, 3.8%
iQOO, 3.2%
Google, 3.0%
Motorola, 2.6%
ASUS, 1.9%
Other, 4.7%
Breakup of smartphone brands people plan to buy next
Samsung is the most preferred brand, followed by OnePlus
*This data is more indicative of which smartphone brand people aspire to buy next.

10. Share*
Current 3.2% 7.4% 0.4% 1.3% 1.1% 1.4% 4.3% 15.0% 6.8% 21.3% 8.1% 20.3%
Future 14.6% 17.1% 3.0% 3.2% 1.9% 0.9% 3.8% 12.2% 3.8% 17.8% 4.3% 10.8%
*Refers to ownership share of smartphone brands people own now and smartphone brands they plan to buy in the future
Difference between smartphone brands people plan to buy next and
smartphone brands they own currently
How ownership share of brands may change in the future
Apple is likely to gain the most users, while Xiaomi may lose the most
11.4%
9.8%
2.7% 1.9%
0.8%
-0.4% -0.4%
-2.8% -3.0% -3.5% -3.8%
-9.4%
Apple OnePlus Google iQOO ASUS Nokia POCO Realme OPPO Samsung Vivo Xiaomi

11. Latest smartphone features that people want
High screen refresh rate is the most sought-after feature
Latest features that people want in their phones
High screen
refresh rate (120Hz
and above), 29.5%
High-resolution
cameras (108MP
and above), 20.3%
Fast charge
support (30W and
above), 17.5%
Waterproofing,
11.3%
Wireless charging,
5.6%

12. Recap of best-performing brands
– The Great Indian Smartphone Survey 2021 by 91mobiles

13. User satisfaction with current smartphone
brand

14. User satisfaction with phone’s speed
iQOO tops the list with 8 in 10 users saying they are happy with their phone’s speed

15. User satisfaction with phone’s battery
POCO is the best brand in terms of battery reliability

16. User satisfaction with phone’s rear camera
Apple users are the happiest with their phone’s rear camera

17. User satisfaction with phone’s front camera
Apple users are the happiest with their phone’s front camera as well

18. User satisfaction with phone’s display capabilities
OnePlus offers the best screen capabilities

19. User satisfaction with phone’s software
OnePlus dethrones Apple in best software performance

20. The most value-for-money (VFM) brands
iQOO beats OnePlus as the most VFM brand

21. Overall user satisfaction by brand
iQOO claims pole position with ~70% users saying they are happy with their phones

22. Recap of best-performing brands
– The Great Indian Smartphone Survey 2021 by 91mobiles

23. Service Quality

24. Service centre visits and experience
Almost 60% people have visited a service centre to fix their phone’s issues
If you had to take your smartphone to a service centre, how was the
quality of service provided?
Good, 17.5%
Very good, 15.5%
Average, 15.2%
Poor, 4.2%
Very poor, 3.7%
Have not taken my
smartphone to a
service centre,
43.8%

25. User satisfaction with service quality
Apple continues to have the best service quality

26. Recap of best-performing brands
– The Great Indian Smartphone Survey 2021 by 91mobiles

27. Brand Loyalty

28. Brand loyalty / customer retention
Apple tops the list as the brand with the most loyal users
% of people likely to buy from the same smartphone brand when they upgrade next
70%
44% 42%
32% 31%
28% 28%
25% 25% 24%
21% 21%
Apple Samsung OnePlus Realme iQOO Motorola Xiaomi Vivo OPPO ASUS POCO Nokia

29. How major brands will lose when users upgrade next
Samsung users
planning to switch to
OnePlus 13.2%
Apple 12.4%
Realme 7.5%
Xiaomi users
planning to switch to
OnePlus 17.6%
Samsung 12.3%
Apple 11.9%
Realme users
planning to switch to
OnePlus 16.7%
Apple 14.1%
Samsung 9.3%
OnePlus users
planning to switch to
Apple 24.6%
Samsung 12.5%
Xiaomi 5.2%
Brand-wise % of people who wish to move to other brands from their current ones

30. How major brands will lose when users upgrade next
Vivo users planning
to switch to
OnePlus 20.8%
Samsung 16.3%
Apple 10.1%
OPPO users planning
to switch to
OnePlus 16.7%
Realme 11.4%
Samsung 10.9%
Brand-wise % of people who wish to move to other brands from their current ones
Apple users planning
to switch to
OnePlus 8.0%
Samsung 7.3%
Google 4.0%

31. Recap of best-performing brands
– The Great Indian Smartphone Survey 2021 by 91mobiles

32. When and where people plan to buy their next
phone

33. When people plan to buy their next phone
35% said during the pre-Diwali festive sales
When are you planning to buy your next smartphone?
During the pre-Diwali
festive sales (Amazon
Great Indian Festival,
Flipkart Big Billion Days,
etc.), 35.3%
In the next 5 to 6
months, 24.5%
I'm not looking to
buy a phone
anytime soon,
40.2%

34. Where people would prefer to buy a new phone if…
Online and offline prices
are the same
Online price is ₹1000
cheaper than offline
Offline price is ₹1000
cheaper than online
Online,
41.0%
Offline,
34.0%
Not sure,
25.0%
Online,
57.4%
Offline,
20.2%
Not
sure,
22.4%
Online,
23.3%
Offline,
46.0%
Not sure,
30.7%

35. Which online store would you prefer to buy your next phone on (if there
is no difference in price)?
38.5%
35.0%
21.4%
5.0%
Flipkart Amazon.in Brand's own store
(Samsung.com, Mi.com,
OPPO Store, etc.)
Other e-commerce
stores (Tata CliQ, Happi
Mobiles, etc.)
Where people prefer to buy a new phone online
Almost 4 in 10 people prefer Flipkart

36. Which of these products would you consider buying, if you get good
deals during the upcoming festive sales?
Earphones /
Headphones /
Speakers, 24.6%
Smartwatch /
Fitness tracker,
20.3%
Laptops, 15.9%
Tablets, 5.1%
Wireless charger,
4.5%
Others, 7.7%
Not looking to buy
any, 21.8%
Likelihood to buy new products in the upcoming festive sales
Almost 70% people would buy some type of gadget if they get good deals

37. Recap
– The Great Indian Smartphone Survey 2021 by 91mobiles