Earlier this month, Gartner had published a report stating that Samsung had lost its number one position in the global smartphone market to Apple during Q4 2014. Samsung is trying to boost its smartphone market share back to its original position by releasing smartphones with premium build quality and design. However, it is not putting all its eggs in one basket, as it is also trying to focus on sales of its low-end as well as mid-range smartphones.
According to a new report from The Korea Herald, Samsung is bolstering the global sales of low-end smartphones to maintain its leading market position. Samsung has decided to rollout its cheapest 4G LTE compliant smartphone, the Galaxy J1, in the Netherlands and Germany, expanding its target countries to Europe instead of keeping it just for the emerging markets like India and Malaysia. The South Korean smartphone giant has also launched all models from its Galaxy A and Galaxy E series in China and India.
Analysts predict that this move from Samsung is aimed at regaining its lost market share. The high-end smartphone marker has become a battle between Apple and Samsung, while the company is facing a lot of competition from Indian and Chinese smartphone brands in the low-end price group. According to industry analysts, there is a huge growth potential in the low-end smartphone segment, and India is expected to become the next biggest smartphone market with the smartphone penetration in the country sits at just 30 percent.
Strategy Analytics predicts that the global sales of low-end and mid-range smartphones will surpass the sales of high-end ones by more than two folds to 107 million in 2016. All local brokerage firms have raised the target price of Samsung Electronics by 9.51 percent from the start of the year.
