Samsung betting big on smartphones

June 14, 2011 05:08 pm | Updated 07:31 pm IST - New Delhi

South Korean mobile handset maker Samsung is betting big on smartphones and expects the segment to contribute 15 per cent to the sales volume by the year—end.

Currently, smartphones account for about 10 per cent of the handsets sold by the company in the country.

“Over 1,300 Galaxy SII handsets were booked online in 10 days. We have received good response from the market on this device and we expect this model to give 20 per cent volume growth in smartphone sales month—over—month,” a company spokesperson said.

She declined to comment on revenue details since the company does not divulge revenue by products.

Priced at Rs. 32,890, Galaxy SII was available for online booking from May 26 and in open market from June 9. Samsung has 15 devices in its smartphone portfolio in the country.

The company is also eyeing a 40 per cent share of the Indian smartphone market by December this year.

According to industry estimates, current smartphone sales are about five million a year, and it is expected to grow to about eight million units in annual sales next year.

Growing smartphones sales are expected to get a further fillip with the roll out of 3G services in the country. 3G services, which offer high—speed Internet access, have already been doled out by operators like Bharti airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Aircel.

India is the world’s second—largest market, after China, for telecom services with 826.93 million subscribers at the end of April 2011.

US—based Apple has also launched its iPhone 4 in India and rivals Nokia, LG and Motorola are also introducing newer smartphones to compete in the heated smartphone race.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.