South Korean electronics major Samsung expects to increase its market share to 40 per cent in value terms in the premium mobile segment in the first half of 2022 in India on the growing demand for 5G smartphones, a senior company official said on Monday. Samsung India senior vice-president Raju Pullan told PTI that Samsung led the Indian smartphone market in March 2022, capturing 22 percent shipment volume and 27 percent revenue share.
“Our smartphone business has seen some very robust growth year-on-year in quarter one on the back of extremely strong demand for the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy A series sales in India.
“The strong growth has helped us consolidate our overall market leadership in India. We exited the first quarter on a very strong note. For H1 (first half), we have got a clear objective of consolidating our premium leadership to 40 percent market share,” Pullan said.
The company had a market share of 23 percent in value terms in the premium segment (priced above Rs. 30,000 per unit) at the end of the same period a year ago.
“We are going to launch more colours in the S22 series based on customer demands and feedback. In the next couple of days, we will launch Rose Pink,” Pullan said.
Launched in mid-March, the Samsung Galaxy S22 series priced in the range of Rs. 72,999 to Rs. 1,18,999 attracted 1.5 lakh pre-booking orders.
Pullan said that Galaxy A series also received strong demand in India.
“We will overall consolidate leadership in the mid to high segment. We will grow our market share from the current 25 percent to 40 percent in H1. In fact, March has been one of the best from a performance perspective for Samsung in the last 15 months,” he said.
Pullan said that the company expects consumer demand for future-ready products is adding to the sales of 5G smartphones.
“We remain the top 5G selling brand in India for the second consecutive quarter. It will further enhance the overall 5G portfolio as we see strong adoption of 5G products in India. People want future-ready products,” he said.
The company sees Samsung Finance Plus to push penetration of its 5G devices in tier 2-3 markets.
“Samsung Finance Plus will play an extremely important role in our growth. It processes about 3 lakh transactions per month worth about Rs. 500 crore of which half of the consumers are new to credit,” Pullan said.