The world's leading smartphone-maker Samsung is reportedly planning to make drastic changes to the mobile business in India.
Samsung's premium Galaxy S22 series, which was released earlier this year received an overwhelming response around the world. In India too, Samsung led the smartphone market in March 2022 capturing 22% shipment volume and 27% revenue share.
However, the South Korean technology major has communicated to some of the retail partners, that it will exit the budget segment (under Rs 15,000) in a few months, or by the end of 2022, The Economic Times reported citing industry sources.
Samsung's move to cut back on low-end phones and shift focus on mid-range phones stems from the fact that the Indian government's PLI Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme is applicable only to high-value phones.
In the last couple of years, Samsung has been very aggressive, particularly in India. It had launched several variants of Galaxy M, A, and F series models in wide-ranging price bands from Rs 8,500 to all the way up to Rs 1,18,999.
But with the depreciation of the Rupee against the US Dollar, components shortage, and supply constraints caused by -- Covid pandemic-induced lockdowns since early 2020 and this year, the Russian invasion of Ukraine-- have disrupted the economic activities around the world.
With a low-profit margin, it is difficult for companies to sell phones in price-conscious markets like India. This may have prompted Samsung to fight focus on more premium phones. It is believed that the supply partner Dixon will produce the last batch of budget phones (costing less than Rs 15,000) for Samsung in December.
DH has reached out to Samsung for a response to the report of exiting the budget phone segment in India.
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