New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS): Apple continues to rule among aspirational India's non-metros when it comes to demand and supply of pre-owned phones, a new study revealed on Monday.

While in the new smartphone market, Apple's market share is minimal in India, the opposite holds true for the pre-owned market.

The iPhone contributes to 25 per cent of the demand and 21 per cent of supply on OLX.

"The iPhone is followed closely by behemoths in the android ecosystem with Xiaomi generating 22 per cent of the demand and 18 per cent of the supply," according to OLX 'Pre-Owned Smartphone' study.

South Korean brand Samsung controls 15 per cent of the demand and 17 per cent of the supply.

OnePlus, Vivo, Oppo and Realme are extremely popular with consumers, especially across the budget, mid-segment and premium (One plus) price categories.

All the four brands generate about 30 per cent of the demand and supply for pre-owned phones on OLX, the study mentioned.

The overall demand for pre-owned phones has jumped by 61 per cent and supply has increased by 76 per cent during the period of lockdown 1 and post the unlock while demand has jumped by 44 per cent post unlock vs pre-Covid-19 lockdown period.

With over 500 million internet and smartphone users, India now has about half the population accessing the internet. With 700 million users yet to be connected, smartphones, especially pre-owned ones will play an important role in driving India's internet population to over a billion in the coming years.

"Covid-19 has accelerated the growth curve for pre-owned smartphones especially as financial constraints and uncertainty in the economy drive more people to come online in search of better livelihood opportunities, consuming content and staying connected," the study noted.