Samsung grabs 40 per cent of total July smartphone sales: GfK

KOLKATA: Samsung Electronics improved its value share in India’s smartphone market to 43% in July, helped by a spurt in sales of its Galaxy J series phones. The company’s value share climbed 7.5% from a month earlier, according to data collated by market tracker GfK.

“In volume terms, the company cornered 40% of total smartphone units sold nationally across brands in July, based on GfK data available with us,” Mohandeep Singh, senior vice president (mobile business) for Samsung India, told ET. Singh said growing appetite for the recently launched Galaxy J7 series of smartphones – the J7 Nxt, J7 Pro and J7 Max – coupled with its flagship devices, the Galaxy S8 and S8+, propelled both value and volume share in July.

“The Galaxy J series is doing particularly well, in that one out of every three smartphones sold in the country today is a ‘J series’ phone,” Singh said.

The share of Samsung’s Galaxy J Series devices among total smartphones sold in India across brands expanded to 33% in July from 28.4% a year earlier.

The South Korean company’s strong smartphone sales in July are in contrast with Chinese rivals Oppo and Vivo, which are said to have suffered a 30% fall in shipments. In the festive season this year, Samsung expects to beat the 25-30% estimated industry growth in smartphone sales nationally in value terms, a company executive said.