It has been a busy last few months for Samsung. The launch of the premium Galaxy S series — Pullan says it has done remarkably well — was followed by multiple launches in the A-series. Pullan says thatMarch’s performance was the best month in the past 15 months in terms of sales for Samsung’s mobile business. March 2022 was rather prolific for Samsung as far as its A-series of smartphones were concerned. Samsung launched five Galaxy A series devices in March – Galaxy A13, Galaxy A23, Galaxy A33 5G, Galaxy A53 5G and Galaxy A73 5G.
Both the A-series and S-series remain critical for Samsung’s ambitious growth plans. The S-series — especially the Ultra variant — seems to have caught the fancy of the premium phone buyers. Samsung brought the sensibilities of the Note Series to the S-series with the Ultra and improved the camera performance has gone up a notch or two. The S22 series seems to have done much better than its predecessors. Samsung will unveil a rose gold pink colour option for the S22 series soon, reveals Pullan.
Samsung’s big finance push
It’s not just premium phones where Samsung wants to regain supremacy. In the budget and mid-range phones — where it faces stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers — it is betting big on the Samsung Finance Plus program. Launched almost three years ago, the Samsung Finance Plus, according to Pullan, is integral to Samsung’s growth plans.
Pullan says that Samsung Finance Plus contributes to close to Rs 500 crore per month to Samsung’s mobile business. Samsung Finance Plus is key for Samsung in tier-II and tier-III cities. It is, as per Pullan, available in 50,000 stores in 14,000 pin codes. “We are currently processing over 300,000 applications every month,” says Pullan.
It’s not going to be an easy ride for Samsung as competition in the smartphone market seems to get stiffer with each passing month. Xiaomi remains the market leader when it comes to sales. Realme has been on an upward growth trajectory whereas the likes of Oppo and Vivo — in the budget segment — are pretty formidable. In the premium segment (above Rs 45,000), Apple continues to hold sway over premium phone buyers whereas OnePlus’ threat can’t be discounted. The likes of Xiaomi, Oppo are also keen to make their presence felt in the premium space.
With India getting closer to the 5G reality, Samsung is hopeful of capitalising on it. Currently, it has 16 5G-ready devices in its portfolio and Pullan says that when 5G does eventually roll out, Samsung is well-positioned to capitalise on it.
