Samsung acknowledges it is not growing at the speed it had seen in the past, but claims it hasn't lost top position to any other company or the gap has narrowed.
Samsung has played down the recent surveys that claimed it has been dethroned by Micromax as the top mobile phone company in India. Samsung says it stills leads in the Indian market and its market share has almost doubled.
In an interaction with Economic Times, Samsung's India head BD Park said: "In India, there might be 1-2% up or down. Samsung's market share has doubled over the second place, so what is the meaning of comparing or saying that the gap is narrowing?" He also revealed Samsung's share was almost twice that of the nearest competitor in 2013.
Park suspected some foul play behind the recent studies that claimed that the Korean manufacturer was losing in the Indian market. "There is some business motive behind release of such kind of data," he added.
Samsung India's chief comments come in the wake of a report by Counterpoint Research that claimed Micromax had surpassed Samsung as the leading brand in the last quarter of 2014 with a market share of 16.6 percent (in terms of mobile phone shipments).
Samsung managed 14.4 percent market share, down from 16.3 percent in the previous quarter. Samsung, however, retained number one spot in terms of smartphone shipments in India with 25.3% of the total shipments.
While research firms indicate Samsung is losing edge in India and even in China, India's local Micromax has continued to see a growth. According to Counterpoint Research, Micromax became the leading feature phone supplier overtaking Nokia for the first time. It grew in rankings becoming the tenth largest handset brand in terms of mobile phone shipment volumes. Read Counterpoint's market research here.
It's worth pointing out here Park acknowledged that Samsung's growth had slowed down of late. “It is true that Samsung is not growing in the speed of growth that we've seen in the past but still we're growing and we're keeping our market share," he added.
Staying away from the debate on who is the number one in the market, it is a fact that Samsung's dominance in the Indian smartphone has been challenged by the Indian companies such as Micromax and Xolo, and even Chinese players such as Gionee and Xiaomi. Motorola has also done very well with its unique online-exclusive strategy.
Looking at the recent trend in the mobile phone market, companies such as Motorola and Asus have well targeted the budget segment by offering high spec'd smartphones at attractive prices. Samsung, however, hasn't yet come out with products that will compete in this segment. It seems highly unlikely the company will do so in the near future.
Does it really matter for you which brand is the number one? How does it affect you? Let us know your comments section in the below:
Source: Economic Times
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