- The research comes from the TRA report where Samsung is India’s most desirable smartphone brand.
- Samsung phones are followed by Apple’s iPhone. Samsung is not only limited to smartphones, but it features in the 3rd position of the electronics category.
The Korean smartphone brand might have been struggling a lot in India to revive its market share in terms of smartphones but Samsung is still India’s most desirable smartphone brand.
A report rolled out by TRA (Trust Research Agency) – a part of the Comniscient Group. A Brand Intelligence and Data Insights company.
TRA and its research reports have been rolling out from over a decade and if anything is coming from TRA research it is something genuine, backed up by facts, figures, and data that cannot be much questioned. TRA is also the publisher of The Brand Trust Report and India’s Most Attractive Brands.
So, before we start digging out what makes Samsung as India’s most desirable smartphone brand even though it has been losing its market share to Xiaomi, Realme, OPPO, and Vivo. Let us try and understand TRA’s methodology being the most desirable smartphone brand.
Methodology Behind Most Desirable Brands:
Remember the push and pull strategy in marketing? If any brand is on the list of the most desirable brands (be it a smartphone or any other category) then it has been applying the pull strategy throughout its stint.
Over 3 years TRA’s team spoke to psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and communication experts to comprehend the term desire. After the team had abundant facts, TRA established the Brand Desire Matrix having some 36 checkpoints that a brand has to go through to be the most desirable brand.

Based on those 36 checkpoints, TRA rolls out a questionnaire to the mass public and then carefully evaluates responses. The process of coming up with the most desirable brand is not complex, but since it has to go through a lot of checking, cross-checking, it cannot be questioned.
What Makes Samsung The Most Desirable Brand?
Now that we know how and what makes a brand the most desirable brand, now let us try and find out what makes Samsung the most desirable smartphone brand.
South Korean giant Samsung holds the title of India’s Most Desirable Brand in the smartphone’s category beating giants like Apple iPhone by an unexpected 34% margin in terms of TRA’s desire index.
If you’re thinking that Samsung is the most desirable smartphone brand this year only then you’re probably wrong. In 2013, 2015 & 2018 Samsung has been grabbing the same title in TRA’s report.
To quotes down India’s most selling smartphone brand, market share and the number of units sold is definitely necessary. But when it comes to tracking down the most desirable smartphone brand, it’s not only about
The reasons that we are giving might not be directly correlated to the reasons that TRA has to put Samsung into India’s most desirable smartphone brand. But here are some of the reasons:
- Samsung is India’s first smartphone brand to hit $10 billion by revenue.
- While RealMe, Xiaomi, OPPO & Vivo are the new generation smartphone brands, Samsung’s presence in India is as old as 1995.
- Other brands that have eaten up Samsung’s share in the Indian market have only eaten up its share in smartphones, but Samsung is also selling other electronic devices, making it one of the most dynamic brands as compared to others (in the smartphone category).
- When it comes to trust and visibility, I guess there is no other brand that can beat Samsung.
- Samsung has smartphones that range from the most affordable one (₹2000) to the most sophisticated one (₹50,000 and above)
Who Else is on The List of TRA’s most desirable brands?
Here is are the 20 most desirable brands apart from Samsung.

In terms of smartphones, Samsung, Apple, and MI are the most desirable brands. But the top 20 list included brands from other categories as well.
To read TRA’s full list, methodology, and bifurcation click here.
Summing Up:
Being a best-seller brand only requires selling numbers and market share, but to be the most desirable smartphone brand (or in any other category) a number of factors are also included.
Everything leads us to just one crux, which is, Samsung has not yet given up the fight. Time will only tell how huge the Korean brand. On behalf of Next Big Brand, we congratulate Samsung for being the most desirable smartphone brand.