India is an important market for Samsung, at least when it comes to numbers, and the company seems to be doing well in the country after getting hit by a series of setbacks. Samsung claims that it has managed to capture 40 percent share of the Indian smartphone market (by value, as per GFK Data) during the month of June 2015.
During the launch of the Galaxy A8 in India, Samsung India's vice president of marketing (IT and mobile), Asim Warsi, said, “Our market share has crossed 40 percent by value in June this year. Since January 2015, we continued to grow for six consecutive months and widened the gap.” He stated that India is an encouraging smartphone market with double digit growth rate, growing at 12-14 percent with 6-7 million units.
Samsung launched 16 devices in the Indian smartphone market in 2016, and Warsi claimed that it has been a great start for the company till now, but he reportedly denied to comment when asked about declining profit margins in the mobile phone division of the company. The South Korean smartphone giant has 2,100 exclusive stores in India, but no details were shared regarding its revenues through e-retail channels.
Unlike last year, Samsung has launched a complete range of 4G LTE smartphones in the country as the demand for devices with faster connectivity is increasing. Micromax, India's homegrown smartphone maker toppled Samsung to become the country's largest smartphone manufacturer in Q3 2014, but Samsung managed to snatch back the crown this year.
Once an undisputed leader of the smartphone market in India, Samsung is facing tough competition from Micromax, Motorola, and Xiaomi in the low and mid-range price segment, while Apple is squeezing its market share in the high-end segment with its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
