Samsung's Indian phone factory will have a "limited impact" on Chinese brands: expert

The South Korean technology group Samsung and Chinese suppliers are all banking on India, one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. But Samsung's new mobile phone manufacturing plant in the South Asian country, its largest mobile phone plant in the world, will have only a limited impact on its Chinese competitors, especially Xiaomi, has declared an expert. in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, was inaugurated on Monday. It will help Samsung gradually double its current annual production capacity in India from 67 million phones to 120 million over the next three years, according to an article in the Times of India

. smartphone market in India. The Chinese brand Xiaomi has become the most sold in the country, accounting for 25% of sales of Indian smartphones in the last quarter of 2017, exceeding the 23% of Samsung, according to consulting firm Counterpoint Research

. first place in terms of market share in India with 38.4% in the first quarter of this year, followed by Samsung with 10.4%. Two other Chinese smart phone suppliers, Oppo and Vivo, followed with 7.9% and 6.0% respectively.

Sun Yanbiao, director of the N1mobile research company in Shenzhen, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Samsung had lost market share in China. National brands like Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo have quickly seized the market with lower prices, better quality and strong marketing.

"I think that the Indian factory indicates Samsung's intention to implant itself deeply in the country.It seems that this is a step back under the pressure of the Chinese actors by transferring its formerly important market in India, where the dividend of the population is gradually released, "says Sun.

Xiaomi and Oppo refuse Global Times interview requests.

At present, about 60% of mobile devices in India are traditional phones, which are basic phones with minimal data usage capability, while the others are smartphones, says Sun.

"The competition between Samsung and Xiaomi is mainly focused on the smartphone sector, where cheap low-end smartphones are likely to be a very competitive market," said Sun, adding that the new factory from Samsung to India could have an impact. on sales of Xiaomi in terms of sales of brick and mortar stores.

"For e-commerce sales, Xiaomi will continue to play a leading role," he said. Xiaomi has currently built six factories in India

Kapil Kinariwala, director of 3KSL Transport, a logistics company based in Indore, India, told Global Times on Wednesday that he would choose Xiaomi or Oppo rather than Samsung if the alternatives were close to the price. "Because for the same price level, Samsung will not offer the same features as the other two, but if you want a premium category, Samsung certainly has an advantage," he said.

Another Indian named Shawaiz He announced Wednesday at the Global Times that, according to the same choice, he would choose Samsung because of his brand name.

Strategy Analytics, a market researcher, predicts that smartphone sales in India will exceed 200 million units by 2022. Double the 126.8 million units sold in 2017. Sun said the current Indian smartphone market is similar to China's in 2008, when foreign brands could easily take a piece of the pie.