The latest market data published by IDC reveals that Xiaomi has made it to the top of the Indian smartphone market. The company is tied with Samsung with 23.5 percent share of the Indian smartphone market. This is troubling for Samsung as it has long been the dominant player in the country. It may only be a matter of time before Xiaomi overtakes Samsung in India.
According to a new report, Samsung is now revamping its strategy to particularly target Xiaomi in India. The company will launch new affordable models and even increase incentives for retailers to claw back market share from its main Chinese rival.
Samsung vs Xiaomi
Our Editor-in-Chief noted in his opinion yesterday that Xiaomi has primarily been successful in the Indian market for its value-for-money budget smartphones. Xiaomi continues to offer handsets with specs that Samsung's 3x expensive Galaxy devices can't best.
Since the bulk of the sales in the Indian market are concentrated in the affordable segment, Xiaomi has quickly caught up with Samsung. What's more impressive is that Xiaomi has been able to achieve this level of success without focusing a lot on offline sales.
According to a new report, Samsung is going to strengthen its Galaxy J and Galaxy ON series handsets in India. It may be planning aggressive model launches in the Rs. 8,000 ($123) to Rs. 15,000 ($230) range. The new models will directly target some of Xiaomi's best-selling models and will match them on pricing.
Samsung is also going to leverage its strong position in the country's retail market by offering a 2-3 percent higher margin to retailers. It will also increase their credit period to 45 days from 30-35 days.
Samsung is also expected to revamp its mobile business team in India as it gears to make a decisive push against Xiaomi in this key market. Whether or not this will work remains to be seen.
