Samsung Grabs Big Share In Over Rs 1 Lakh Smartphone Market; Buyers From Non-metro Cities Fuel Demand

NEW DELHI: People from non-metro cities and smaller towns are spending more on smartphones and are now fueling the flagship smartphone demand in India. Samsung’s most premium flagship smartphone – Galaxy S22 Ultra – is claimed to be the most popular model in the Rs 100,000 plus category with 74% volume market share in March 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. Samsung’s overall market share in the Rs 100,000 plus category in March, 2022 was 81%. This is largely driven by the popularity of the Galaxy S22 Ultra in India– the only flagship smartphone that comes with a stylus and lets users plug a monitor or a screen and convert it into a separate PC with Samsung DeX.

Talking about the smartphone market in India, when it comes to buying smartphones that are above Rs 1 lakh, apart from Apple, it is only Samsung that commands a certain brand identity. Given the limited retail presence of Apple in smaller towns, Samsung has aggressively started to target these regions to attract new buyers who aspire to buy expensive phones.

“We have drastically increased our retail presence in non-metro cities and smaller towns. Our idea is to show buyers the best technology that is available in the market and make it easy for them to buy by offering easy financing schemes,” said Aditya Babbar, Senior Director and Head of Product Marketing, Mobile Business, Samsung India in an interaction with News18 Tech.

While the Android smartphone market is highly-competitive in the budget to mid-range segment, the Chinese stronghold fizzles out the moment any smartphone model crosses the Rs 50,000 price tag in India. The Indian buyers, in general, feel it’s not worth spending more money on phones from Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus and others. This is where Samsung is capitalising in the Android market.

“Galaxy S22 series had a great start in India, especially for the Galaxy S22 Ultra that merges Note features with the S-series. As a result of this, the demand was not only driven by the strong installed base of the previous S series users but also from the note users as well. Samsung has momentum now in the premium segment as our channel checks are indicating a robust demand going into the second quarter as well,” said Tarun Pathak, Research Director, Counterpoint Research.

“We created platforms to enable consumers to buy with Samsung Upgrade and Samsung Finance+ which boosted our growth in metro and even higher in non-metro cities,” added Babbar.

The success of Galaxy S22 series also helped Samsung India claim the number 1 spot in the premium segment (above Rs 30,000) with 38% volume market share in March, 2022, according to Counterpoint Research. Samsung was India’s number 1 smartphone company in March 2022 with 22% volume market share and 27% value market share,” Counterpoint Research added.

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