Samsung India Electronics on Monday announced the launch of its entry-level Galaxy J2 smartphone on September 21 at a price tag of Rs 8,490.
With this, Samsung, which has a 40.3% marketshare in India’s smartphone segment, hopes to ensure migration of 2G feature phones directly to 4G smartphones, particularly as price tags for both 3G and 4G handsets would be the same, said Manu Sharma, Director, Mobile Business, Samsung India, at a press conference here.
Only 22% of India’s mobile phones—16 crore out of a total 70 crore — are currently smartphones, the rest being feature phones that still command 45% of marketshare in the country, the world’s third largest smartphone market. In contrast, among the BRIC nations, Brazil has 24% of all mobile phones as smartphones, Russia 41% and China 42%.
He said India has 30 crore Internet connections, 25 crore of which are on mobile phones. These include 17 crore on 3G technology. “Since 4G is 10 times faster than 3G, we see a huge market potential in this segment.”
The new, 33rd, product launched by Samsung this year in India provides visually rich, cost effective and faster experience. With Galaxy J2, Samsung will offer a portfolio of a total 17 models for providing 4G service.
Nearly 1,000 towns and cities in India are expected to be covered by 4G technology by next year. The smartphone market in the country is growing at 20% year-on-year, Sharma added.