by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Large Enterprise
By Gokul Bhagabati,
New Delhi : Stressing that there has not been any significant loss of its market share owing to the rise of Chinese smartphone brands in India, a top Samsung executive has said the company is well prepared to fend off challenges from its competitors.
“India being the second largest smartphone market and the fastest growing globally, we have extremely aggressive plans for the country,” Mohandeep Singh, Senior Vice-President, Mobile Business, Samsung India, told IANS here.
Samsung became the leader in the Indian flagship smartphone market, garnering 49.2 per cent share in the first quarter of 2018, the German research firm GfK revealed last week.
In the full financial year (April 2017-March 2018), Samsung registered 55.2 per cent market share in the Rs 40,000 and above price segment, said GfK that reports final consumption of the devices and not only shipments.
In March alone, the South Korean giant registered a massive 58 per cent market share in the flagship segment.
But in the mid-range and budget segments, the Chinese brands seem to have outperformed Samsung.
According to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) “Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker” report, Xiaomi maintained its lead in the Indian smartphone market with 30.3 per cent market share in the first quarter of 2018, while Samsung came second with 25.1 per cent share.
Xiaomi maintained its lead in the market for the second quarter in a row, the report said.
“More than the competition, we are focused on the consumers because that is where we find the inspiration for the products that we want to launch in the country,” Singh noted.
In an apparent move to counter the competitively-priced Chinese smartphone brands, Samsung this week launched four new smartphones in its Galaxy “A” and “J” series with “Infinity Display” — a bezel-less screen for an immersive viewing experience – which are priced between Rs. 13,990 to Rs. 25,990.
The devices are packed with smart features such as “Chat Over Video” that facilitates an uninterrupted viewing experience while chatting, memory management and automatic duplicate remover to free up phone space, and the Samsung Mall app that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance the shopping experience of the users.
While these phones are aggressively priced, Singh said that Samsung is not solely focused on bringing down the prices of its devices to stay ahead in the competition.
“More than the price, the Indian consumer is now looking for the right value in the products,” Singh said, adding that what was acceptable to the consumer three to four years ago in a smartphone no longer works.
The average selling price (ASP) of smartphones in India has increased over the years and it will continue to go up.
While the Indian consumers are price-sensitive, they are now ready to pay a premium if the features in the phones are to their liking.
“As long as you are doing the right thing for the consumer, you would continue to grow in the market quite irrespective of the competition. That’s where our focus is – what is it that the consumer requires from us,” Singh told IANS.
Samsung has five R&D centres in India — two in Bengaluru and one each in Noida, New Delhi and Pune.
Last year, the South Korean tech giant announced an investment of Rs 4,915 crore in India to boost the capacity of the company’s Noida plant, where it manufactures smartphones, refrigerators and flat panel televisions.
“India is a very important market for Samsung. We are heavily invested in this country – whether it is manufacturing or R&D.
“We are preparing ourselves from every aspect to be able to grow alongside India’s mammoth smartphone market,” he added.
“We are a market leader not only in the premium but across categories, across segments. We expect to continue this momentum,” Singh stressed.
(Gokul Bhagabati can be contacted at gokul.b@ian.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Emerging Businesses, Markets, Technology
Seoul : Samsung Electronics Co. said on Monday it is hosting a gathering of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) throughout this week to enable business representatives to exchange views on the commercialization of the fifth-generation (5G) network.
At the meeting, officials from South Korea’s three mobile carriers, SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp., as well as international partners like Verizon Wireless, AT&T and NTT DOCOMO, gathered to discuss ways to set up 5G-network services, Yonhap news agency reported.
“The first 5G standard, which includes innovative technologies developed by Samsung Electronics, will be completed at this 3GPP conference,” the company said.
“This will lead the market to commercialize 5G communication to serve as the core infrastructure for the coming fourth industrial revolution,” it added.
Samsung said the participants at the gathering will confirm the final technologies for 5G commercialization.
“These include 5G wireless access technology providing ultra-high speed data and ultra-low latency and the conformance testing method for 5G terminals,” the tech giant added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Markets, Medium Enterprise, Online Marketing
New Delhi : Telecom services provider Bharti Airtel on Friday announced the availability of Samsung’s latest flagship Galaxy S9 and S9+ smartphones on its online store where users can buy the 64GB variant of Galaxy S9 and S9+ for a down payment of Rs 9,900.
Buyers have to pay subsequent 24 monthly instalments of Rs 2,499 and Rs 2,799 for Galaxy S9 and S9+ respectively.
The devices were launched in India earlier this month. The price of Galaxy S9 starts at Rs 57,900 and the S9+ starts at Rs 64,900.
The monthly instalments for both the devices will include a postpaid plan with 80GB data, unlimited calling and subscription to exciting content such as one-year Amazon Prime membership, Airtel Secure, Airtel TV and Wynk Music, the company said.
Airtel’s online store is a platform where prospective buyers can get budget-friendly down payment options and bundled monthly plans.
“We are happy to have the latest Samsung flagship on our online store. We have made it very convenient for customers to own this premium device by removing the price barrier and offering instant financing,” Vani Venkatesh, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel, said in a statement.
Samsung’s “Dual Aperture” (F1.5/F2.4) in S9+ — the world’s first such feature in any smartphone — automatically lets in more light when it is dark and less light when it is too bright, taking photos that are crisp and clear.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Large Enterprise, Markets, Technology
By Nishant Arora,
New York : After receiving a good response to its QLED TV series in India within a month of its launch in 2017, Samsung will bring the newly-launched 4K QLED line-up to the country in the second quarter this year.
Samsung Electronics unveiled its flagship QLED (Quantum dot Light Emitting Diode) TVs — including the 85-inch, 8K Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered TV – at an event here on Wednesday.
Samsung’s flagship televisions — for which the price is yet to be announced — will be available globally later in March and will arrive in India May-end.
According to the senior company executives, the Indian market is prepared to embrace the new line-up because the 40 inches and above, is the fastest growing segment in the TV business in the country where Samsung has strongly maintained its leadership.
Samsung registered 30 per cent share in the overall TV category and 50 per cent market share in the premium TV category in India in 2017.
“With world-class technology and customer-centric innovations, we are confident about further consolidating our leadership in this segment,” the company executives told IANS.
Samsung today has two factories, five R&D centres and a design centre in India, employing over 70,000 people.
According to Dave Das, Senior Vice President of Consumer Electronics at Samsung Electronics America, 2018 is all about immersive experience.
“The consumers want bigger screen to truly enjoy the content they love, from action to sports. However, while screens are getting bigger, living rooms remain the same,” Das told the gathering.
“Our QLED technology makes it possible to give consumers a detailed experience in the same space even on super large screens,” he added.
In 2017, the QLED series witnessed an overwhelming pre-booking response in India within a month of the launch, and the surprising trend was that 40 per cent of these bookings came from non-metros, the company said.
Samsung is growing aggressively with an increased focus on tier-II cities in the country.
For 12 years, the South Korean giant has been the global leader in the TV industry.
In 2017, Samsung revolutionised the TV viewing experience with world’s most advanced QLED technology and captured imagination with “The FRAME” — a customisable TV that can blend into any room like a photo frame hanging on the wall.
QLED TVs come with four global first innovations.
They achieve 100 per cent colour volume, has the HDR 2000 functionality that brings out hidden details, sports an almost “invisible” cable and “One Remote Control” that offers an intuitive experience.
In addition, Samsung’s latest “Smart View App” allows users to seamlessly share content from their smartphone to the TV.
With the in-built intelligence platform “Bixby,” you can use voice commands to ask for your favourite movies or songs.
(Nishant Arora is in New York on the invitation from Samsung. He can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate Jobs, Employment, Private Jobs
New Delhi : In line with its commitment to hire 2,500 engineers for R&D in India in the next three years, Samsung on Wednesday said the company will hire 1,000 engineers from top engineering colleges including IITs, NITs and IIITs this year.
With a thrust on New-Age domains like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), biometrics, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Augmented Reality (AR) and networks including 5G, Samsung will hire 300 students from IITs this year.
The company will hire 35 students from IIT-Bombay, 32 from IIT-Delhi, 22 from IIT-Madras, 45 from IIT-Guwahati and 29 students from IIT-Kharagpur, among others.
Samsung India has three R&D centres — in Bengaluru, Noida and Delhi.
“Samsung is extremely bullish on R&D in India and this focus on R&D has helped us cement our Number 1 position in the Indian market. The three R&D centres in India work on several cutting-edge technologies,” Dipesh Shah, Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute India, Bengaluru and Global Senior Vice President, Samsung, said in a statement.
Apart from IITs and NITs, Samsung is also hiring quality talent from other premier institutes such as the Delhi College of Engineering, BITS Pilani, Manipal Institute of Technology and IIITs, among others.
Last year, Samsung hired 800 engineers for its R&D facilities, out of which 300 were from IITs.
Apart from the traditional domain of computer science, students were hired from streams such as electrical engineering, mathematics and computing, applied mechanics and statistics, among others.
Samsung has a total of 32 R&D centres across the world and the Bengaluru one is Samsung’s largest R&D centre outside South Korea.
“As part of our ‘Make for India’ initiative, R&D centres in India also work on developing innovations that are centred on the needs of Indian consumers and also contribute to innovations for global products,” Shah said.
—IANS
