Samsung Electronics leads affordable segment in India’s smartphone market

NEW DELHI: Samsung Electronics has topped the affordable segment in India’s fast growing smartphone market, capturing 58% share in the quarter to March on the back of bumper 8 million unit sales of its Galaxy J series. Data compiled by GfK showed that Samsung’s volume share in the segment also increased to 55% in the quarter.

The South Korean electronics major had a 40% share in smartphones, by value and volume, in the same period of 2015. “We had an overall market share of 48.6% in the first quarter of 2016,” said Manu Sharma, director-mobile business at Samsung India, at the launch 2016 editions of Galaxy J7 and Galaxy J5. But he did not comment on the number of devices sold or the market share in the affordable segment.

The Rs 6,000-15,000 price segment is called the affordable segment. It makes up about 65% of the industry by volumes and it is where most of the Indian and Chinese players, such as Micromax, Intex, Xiaomi and LeEco, offer their devices. Counterpoint Research, however, said Samsung had a40% share by volume in the same price segment for the January-March 2016 period, followed by Micromax with 16% and Lenovo with 11%.

“In 2016 smartphone players will seek growth in $100-200 (Rs 6,800-Rs 13,800) price segment to improve their profitability and margins. Most players will also try to subsidise their flagships to compete, which will make this segment one of the fastest growing this year,” said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Micromax’s chief marketing officer Shubhajit Sen said the company’s portfolio was “differently aligned” in three distinct price brackets — up to Rs 7,000, Rs 7,000-Rs 10,000, and upwards of Rs 10,000—catering to first time users and those upgrading to second affordable smartphones. Majority of Micromax’s sales come from the first two segments.