South Korean electronics giant Samsung hopes to ride the 5G connectivity wave in India and expects that 75 per cent of their business in the country in the year 2023 will be from the sale of 5G handsets, a Samsung Official told WION. Akshay S Rao, General Manager, Mobile Business, Samsung India, said that the brand currently sells 28 smartphones in the Indian market, of which 19 are 5G smartphones.
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Four months into 2023, Samsung has already launched nine 5G devices in India, he added. India’s telecom operators commenced the rollout of 5G connectivity in the final quarter of 2022. Queried about the basis behind Samsung expecting 75 per cent business from 5G devices in India, Rao said that the brand had recorded 66% business from 5G devices in 2022 and that further growth was natural. “The evolution towards 5G began late last year and the network coverage is still expanding, as 5G is not available everywhere,” he said.
He also added that in a diverse market such as India, a lot of customers and first-time smartphone users were also happy purchasing 4G devices, despite the 5G rollout having taken place. WION had earlier reported that Samsung now makes all of their devices sold in the Indian market at their factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, which is touted as the largest in the world. Their portfolio includes entry-level smartphones that cost a little over $150 to premium phones such as the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy Fold, which cost well above $1500. While these phones come with a ‘made-in-India’ tag, a lot of their crucial components including the processors, camera modules, batteries, sensors etc are imported. Samsung officials declined requests for specific information on how many components it imports and their value and also the volume of its exports from India.
Samsung’s competitor Apple assembles their phones in India via contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron. According to the Indian Government, more than $6bn worth of Smartphones were exported during the period April-November 2022. As part of its increasing focus on India, Apple opened two company-operated retail stores in Mumbai and Delhi. Apple CEO Tim Cook formally inaugurated these stores, which are situated in the world’s second-largest smartphone market. Reports suggest that seven per cent of Apple phones sold worldwide are assembled in India. Samsung officials refused to directly comment on the latest Apple Store inaugurations in India and said that Samsung had a 25-year-old legacy of Research & Development, Manufacturing and retail operations in the country.
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