Samsung Electronics remains as No. 1 in Indian smartphone market

Samsung Electronics remains as No. 1 in Indian smartphone market. February. 04, 2016 07:15. by 김지현기자 jhk85@donga.com.

Samsung Electronics, which ranked below top five in the Chinese smartphone market last year, remained as No. 1 in the Indian smartphone market. India is the world’s third largest smartphone market after China and the U.S.

According to Counter Point Research, a global market survey firm, on Wednesday, Samsung Electronics had a 25.7 percent share of the Indian smartphone market to stay atop last year, while remaining as No. 1 with a 28.6 percent market share in last year’s fourth quarter.

Samsung was able to stand atop in India because its moderately-priced smartphone “Galaxy J series," which the electronics giant deployed specifically to target the Indian market gained popularity there. Notably, the J2 smartphone was the top seller in India during the period.

Compared with other emerging markets, India's indigenous phone makers are controlling a large portion of market share. Except for China's Lenovo (11.4 percent), Micromax (16.1 percent), Intex (8.6 percent), and Lava (6.0 percent) are all local producers.

Apple, which entered the Indian market in earnest from last year, controlled an annualized market share of about 2 percent. In the Indian market where most smartphones are priced below 100 U.S. dollars, however, Apple sold more than 2 million units of the expensive iPhones series.