Samsung Will Launch An Online-Exclusive Line Of Smartphones In India
Samsung will soon launch a line of budget smartphones specifically for the online consumers. This new lineup will directly compete with Xiaomi and its dominant lineup in the sub-15K category. Samsung’s new smartphones will also enter the Rs. 5000-Rs. 15000 price bracket.
According to IDC, Samsung and Xiaomi were the top two smartphone brands in India for the first time in Q3, 2017. The companies had a market share of 23.5% each, earning them the top spot in the Indian market with over 9.2 million smartphones. However, the top three smartphones sold during the July-September quarter were by Xiaomi. The majority of these sales happened through online channels and that is what Samsung intends to target with these new smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy A8+
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At this point in time, Samsung online-exclusive line of smartphones is its On series while the recently launched Samsung Galaxy A8+ is also an Amazon-exclusive for now. According to Counterpoint Technology Market Research, a Hong Kong-based research firm, Xiaomi’s rise in India is due to the absence of competition in the online space. According to the MD of Xiaomi India, the brand has almost 50% share of online smartphone sales in India.
A Samsung Executive has said:
Samsung wants to extend its lead with Xiaomi which is possible by expanding e-commerce sales while consolidating its presence in offline channels. It will ensure that the 1.5 lakh brick-and-mortar stores selling its handsets are not neglected since Samsung knows it will take time for Xiaomi to build such a vast offline network.
Redmi 5 Plus
What smartphones Samsung will launch at this price category is yet to be seen but, they will have to have extremely solid specifications to deter Xiaomi’s top-selling devices in the price category. Furthermore, Xiaomi will soon launch the Redmi Note 5 in India, which will succeed the highly popular Redmi Note 4 and will be priced at around Rs. 11,000.
