NEW DELHI: Apple widened its lead in India’s premium smartphone segment in the October-December quarter, with its newly launched iPhone X turning out to be the bestselling model. Number 2 OnePlus extended the gap with South Korea’s Samsung, a market research firm said, adding that the premium market itself expanded over 20% from a year earlier.Apple led with a 46.9% share of the premium segment in the quarter, while China’s OnePlus and Samsung trailed with 24.9% and 17.6%, respectively, Counterpoint Technology Market Research said. The shares of the three companies were 34.8%, 32.1% and 17.6%, respectively, in the quarter ended September.The premium segment accounted for 4% of the smartphone market in volume terms in the fourth quarter and 20% by value. Other vendors, mainly Google, Xiaomi, Nokia HMD and LG, increased their combined share to 10.6% from 2.2% in the previous quarter. For 2017, Apple led with 38.4% share, followed by Samsung (35.6%) and OnePlus (19.5%).”We expect the premium segment to continue to grow by over 20%, both in terms of volume and value, in 2018 as more brands are likely to enter the segment. These include OPPO, Vivo and Huawei, which have some of their best-selling models in China already in this segment,” said Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint.He said promotions in the premium segment are likely to increase, especially by ecommerce players, on the back of cashbacks and instalment schemes offered in the fourth quarter.For Apple, strong shipments of iPhone X and iPhone 7 drove growth in the quarter.