The past couple of years have seen Samsung stepping up its game in the Indian handset market to regain the top spot. The company’s efforts have started showing results with its volume of shipments in India picking up. As per industry reports, Samsung’s handset shipments increased from 8 million in the second quarter of 2018 to 9.3 million in the second quarter of 2019. Further, its market share increased from 23.9 per cent to 25.3 per cent during the same period. Samsung had a 63 per cent market share by value in the Indian premium smartphone segment in the first half of 2019. This growth in the company’s market share and the volume of shipments can be attributed to its new market strategy. As part of the new strategy, Samsung is focusing on bringing innovation across its smartphone range, primarily aimed at addressing the new-age needs and demands of the millennial generation.
Samsung has been coming up with new smartphones in all price brackets to increase volume. It has started laying emphasis on sales through online e-commerce platforms. The company is also adopting a more India-focused strategy to enhance its domestic manufacturing capabilities and bring more budget-friendly phones to the market. To this end, the company opened the world’s largest phone manufacturing factory in India in 2018.
New launches riding on innovation
Recently, Samsung unveiled the all-new premium design of Galaxy A50s and A30s models. Enabled with flagship features such as night mode, super steady video, Samsung Pay and a powerful processor with game booster technology, the two new smartphones deliver a superior performance and are perfect for the millennial generation of today.
The company has also launched Galaxy A10, which is packed with innovative features for easing everyday life. It has been designed to take the smartphone experience to the next level. Galaxy A10 is equipped with a remarkable 6.2 inch Infinity-V display, all-new dual rear camera, a powerful 4,000 mAh battery and a fingerprint scanner to offer an unparalleled consumer experience.
Earlier, Samsung had unveiled Galaxy Note10 and Galaxy Note10+. Powered by a 7nm processor, the two models come with 12 GB and 8 GB RAM respectively, powerful performance and productivity tools, and features such as AR Doodle, Auto Doode, Big Bokeh and intelligent gallery. As per industry sources, the company registered more than twice the pre-booking orders for its “Made in India” Note 10 series smartphones compared with the past year’s Galaxy Note 9 pre-booking orders.
Focus on online sales and increasing volume
Samsung expects to make over $1 billion in revenue from its online smartphone sales in 2019, doubling its 2018 sales figure. Further, the company hopes to gain nearly 25 per cent share in the overall online market revenue. It is planning to introduce new models in the M series dedicated to the online market. In order to leverage the festive season, Samsung plans to sell 2 million smartphones in October alone, clocking around Rs 30 billion gross merchandise value.
Future plans
Going forward, Samsung intends to invest around Rs 25 billion to make India the hub for component manufacturing. In line with this vision, it recently set up two new component manufacturing units – Samsung Display Co for the production of mobile phone display and Samsung SDI India for the production of batteries. A couple of months back, Samsung Display signed an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a phone display manufacturing plant at an investment of Rs 15 billion. It is expected to be operational by April 2020. Meanwhile, Samsung SDI India, which was floated in April 2019, is planning to set up a manufacturing unit in India for lithium-ion batteries.
In the next few years, Samsung aims to start exporting components from India. To this end, the company has sought export incentives from the government.
Diksha Sharma
