Samsung has lost its way completely in the Chinese smartphone market with its market share dropping below 1% recently. It’s a huge setback for Samsung given that China is the largest smartphone market in the world. However, in the second largest smartphone market, India, Samsung continues to be a dominant force, despite formidable challenges from the Chinese brands.
To counter the intense competition from rivals, Samsung recently launched the Galaxy J8, Galaxy J6, Galaxy A6, and A6+ in India. Speaking to reporters at the launch of the new models, Sumit Walia, Director, Samsung India, offered some interesting insights into Samsung’s performance in the country,
Samsung claims it has 40% value market share
Starting with the revenues, Samsung grew at 27% and clocked $5 billion in mobile sales in India for the fiscal ending 2017. The company ended Q1 2018 with 40% value market share and 37% volume market share in the country. With the launch of the new models, the company is expecting a 5% gain in market share.
The official also said that all the products sold in India are manufactured locally at a plant in Noida. The company is expanding the facility to manufacture 120 million phones annually by 2020. Samsung is planning to make India into its manufacturing hub and export to other markets from there. The combination of local manufacturing and higher production should help Samsung to price its smartphones more aggressively in the Indian market.
The market share numbers quoted by Samsung contradict numerous market research reports which show Xiaomi overtaking Samsung in the recent quarters. We don’t know if Samsung is cherry-picking reports to assert its dominance, or that others are exaggerating the rapid growth of the Chinese brands in the country. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
