Visitors take a look at Samsung Electronics Co.’s Z3 smartphone in Gurgaon, India, in this file photo taken on Oct. 14, 2015 (Image : Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Korea Bizwire) - South Korea’s top tech firm Samsung Electronics Co. stood as the No. 1 player in the Indian smartphone market in 2015, data showed Wednesday, boasting strong sales from the mid-end segment to long-term evolution (LTE) models.
The South Korean firm took up 25.7 percent of the Indian smartphone market in 2015, followed by Micromax and Intex with 16.1 percent and 10.2 percent each, the data compiled by industry tracker Counterpoint Research showed.
Samsung also took up 28.6 percent of the market in the fourth quarter of 2015, trailed down by Micromax and China-based Lenovo with a 14.3-percent share and 11.4-percent presence, respectively, the data added.
Counterpoint said three out of the top five smartphones sold in India over the October-December period were from Samsung’s J-series, with the J2 smartphone emerging as the top model sold.
Samsung also led the LTE smartphone segment during the quarter, it added.
“It used its distribution prowess to gain a much needed foothold in the US$100-$200 segment where it is facing stiff competition from local and Chinese brands. However, it continues to lose market share in the sub $100-price segment,” the researcher said.
U.S. tech giant Apple Inc., which takes up around 2 percent of the Indian market, saw its sales surpass 2 million units for the first time in 2015.
Samsung Electronics has been making efforts to tap deeper into the emerging smartphone market, by rolling out various budget devices, including the Z1 and Z3, which runs on the Samsung Tizen operating system.
On the back of the strong sales of Tizen devices in India, the platform took up 0.3 percent of the operating system market as of the third-quarter of 2015, emerging as the fourth-largest player, separate data compiled by Strategy Analytics showed.
The figure was significant as Tizen outpaced the Blackberry OS for the first time. Android and Apple iOS, meanwhile, took up 97.7 percent of the market over the cited period, while Microsoft held 1.7 percent.’
(Yonhap)
