Betting big on its smartphone range, Samsung India Electronics hopes to consolidate its market leadership in that segment with newer models in the months to come. As per GFK data as of April 2011, Samsung, with its overall mobile handset market share of 24.5 per cent, is the second largest player in the mobile handset market after Nokia – in value terms. (Nokia is the market leader with close to 40 per cent share). Quoting an industry journal's figures for 2010-11, sources say the overall mobile handset market in India is Rs 33,171 crore. And with 20 per cent growth over the previous year, Samsung is in the second place with the mobile phone business size of Rs 5,720 crore.
“We are looking at consolidating our No. 2 position in the market by strengthening our product portfolio across segments,” says Mr Ranjit Singh Yadav, Director- IT Business, Samsung India.
At present, it has a portfolio of 15 smartphones across the android and bada platforms, priced in the range of Rs 8,000 to Rs 33,000.
The Wave series of smartphones based on the bada platform have met with a good consumer acceptance and very recently, Samsung beefed up its presence in that segment with its Android-based Galaxy Series of Smartphones, with the launch of Galaxy SII.
The Indian mobile handset market grew by 15 per cent to touch Rs 33,171 crore in 2010-11 from Rs 28,897 crore a year ago, say industry sources. During the year, Nokia is said to have faced tough competition from Samsung, BlackBerry and HTC.
Samsung's Galaxy SII Smartphones is expected to give a 20 per cent volume growth in sales in that segment month-over-month. “In fact, over 1,300 Galaxy SII handsets were booked online in 10 days since the commencement of the bookings,” said Mr Yadav, who expects this model to hep the company achieve the target of capturing 40 per cent share of this market by the end of this year.