Yuthika Bhargava
Samsung India is targeting “strong double-digit growth” in its mobile business in 2022, driven by a focus on expanding its offerings in the premium segment, including the recently launched S-22 series and foldable phones, said Raju Pullan, senior VP at Samsung India .
“In 2020, the base was a smaller base; So in 2021, the industry saw strong double-digit growth. We also expect strong double-digit growth in the industry in 2022 and Samsung is poised to outperform the industry growth,” he said Peppystores.
Mr. Pullan added that driving premium segment expansion would play a crucial role in achieving the goal.
“Our clear goal is to become the market leader in the premium segment by the end of the first half of the year. The strategic vision for us is to drive premium expansion through the S Series and FE Series. We’d also look at the foldable series,” he said, adding that foldable phones currently account for about 34% of the company’s total premium revenue by value.
He pointed out that more than two million consumers are actively using the S series and Note series, and the company has received more than 1,40,000 pre-orders for the S22 series devices.
“We see that the premium segment is and will continue to be the fastest growing segment, especially for Samsung because of the platforms we’ve created like Samsung Finance Plus or the Samsung upgrade program… Another lever is the aspiration of consumers to switch to 5G products. We’re seeing very strong adoption of the 5G segment,” he said.
Mr. Pullan noted that Samsung had one of the largest portfolios of 5G products, with nearly 14 models.
“India is a huge market and there is a big upgrade market. Our investments in the platforms and ecosystem will continue to benefit us. With the S22 series… we’re seeing very strong progress in the premium segment and we’re going to lead that with a quantum leap in our overall leadership… we’re going to continue investing in different platforms in India,” he said.
According to CounterPoint, Apple led the premium smartphone segment (the category above £30,000) in India with a 44% share, followed by OnePlus in 2021. However, Samsung was the top brand in 5G smartphones in the last quarter of 2021 -Deliveries. Last year, Samsung recorded its highest-ever average retail selling price in 2021.
