Samsung could soon stop making budget smartphones for the Indian market citing irregular demands. In a report published by ET Telecom, it has been said that the brand will create its last lot of budget smartphones for the Indian market by December 2022. Understanding the reason behind this step by Samsung is no rocket science.
A research by Counterpoint suggested that in the first quarter of 2022, the smartphone shipment of Samsung saw a decline of 39 percent based on on-year growth. The main reason behind it is the shortage of supply, a decline in demand due to inflation, and the high inventory levels.
Samsung dropped to the third spot in the budget segment with a 12 percent market share. The second position is captured by Lava with 20 percent shares and Itel at the first position with 21 percent. Furthermore, the research also quotes that by the end of March 2022, the quarterly shipment of Samsung was only one percent in value and around 20 percent in volume.
What other factors are at play?
Another major factor here is the Indian government's PLI (Performance Linked Incentive) scheme works on a mandate that provides sops only on the smartphones available above a price of Rs 15,000. So, all the smartphones produced under that price get no concession.
ET's report further suggests that Samsung had a word with the distribution partners in India to update regarding their exit from the feature phones segment by the end of the current year.
It seems like Samsung will be focusing more on the high-end smartphone segment in India as the brand is performing well there. As of now, Samsung has a share of 22 percent in the 5G smartphone market.
Apart from that, Samsung also has a great hold on the foldable smartphone segment with devices like Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, etc.
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