Samsung will launch two
smartphones in India this month for less than Rs 15,000, intensifying
competition in the mid-segment mobile market.
The Korean company, which has a 49 percent share in India’s smart phone
segment, will offer options in local languages to attract non-English
speaking customers.
“We will be launching two new smartphones priced for the mid-segment
market. Every phone from Samsung will have nine vernacular language
options,” Samsung country head (mobile business) Vineet Taneja said,
without mentioning the prices.
However, a company official said the phones may be priced in the Rs
5,000-15,000 range. Most mobile phones in India are sold in this price
range, including Nokia Lumia 520 and 620, Blackberry Curve series, Xolo
smartphones and Micromax Canvas 2. The Samsung phones will offer access
to content and applications in Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali, Telugu,
Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Gujarati.
“The competition now in the smartphone market is how to make the phone
size small without compromising on the screen size,” Taneja said. The
company is set to launch its premium high-end smartphone, the Galaxy
Note 3, on Tuesday.
Samsung currently offers about 17 smartphones priced between Rs 5,000
(Samsung Star) and Rs 39,000 (S4).
Taneja said the company is focusing on the mid-end to high-end
smartphone market and will provide dual-sim option in all handsets.
“Going forward, you will see more and more dual-sim phones coming up,”
he said.
According to telecom magazine Voice&Data, Samsung toppled Nokia from
its leadership position in the financial year 2012-13 with revenue of
Rs 11,328 crore and a 31.5 percent market share. Nokia’s market share
stood at 27.2 percent.
