Buoyed by the demand for its online-only M-series smartphones portfolio, Samsung is aiming to capture a 25% value share (or about $1 billion) of the B2C (business-to-consumer) online handset market that is estimated to be about $4.5 billion, a senior company official said.
The South Korean firm is also confident of doubling its online smartphone business as well as achieving a “healthy double digit” growth for its overall mobile business, said Asim Warsi, Samsung India senior vice-president, mobile business.
“The online handset market in India in value terms is about $6 billion. Of this, the B2C or consumer segment is about $4.5 billion. We aim to end 2019 with 25% share of the consumer segment,” Mr. Warsi said.
Pointing out that since the launch of the new portfolio in February, the company had sold more than two million M series devices, Mr. Warsi said Samsung was on track to double its online smartphone business this year.
The company plans to strengthen the series with launch of M40 model in June, which is expected to be priced about ₹20,000. Its existing M series phones — M10, 20 and 30 — are priced in the range of ₹8,000-₹18,000.
Asked about the overall mobile business, Mr. Warsi noted that handsets had not seen a slowdown as in other consumer-focused industries and he expected a double digit growth for the overall mobile business. as well.
“This year saw a massive changeover in our portfolio… we introduced the new M series…A series is doing well both online and offline…we expect a healthy double digit growth this year,” he said. Mr. Warsi pointed out that this was against the expected 6-8% growth for the entire industry.
Published - May 29, 2019 10:03 pm IST
