The comments made by the head of Samsung India came as a response to the report by Counterpoint Research. According to the report, Samsung was overtaken by Micromax which now has a market share of 16.6% based on mobile phone shipments. It also said that Micromax is now the leading feature phone supplier and has overtaken Nokia for the first time. The company had managed to increase its rankings and is now billed as the tenth biggest handset name which is based on the volume of mobile phone shipment.
Samsung reacted to the report by saying that the company is still the leader in the Indian market and that its market share has even almost doubled.
"In India, there might be 1 to 2% up or down. Samsung's market share has doubled over the second place, so what is the meaning of comparing or saying that the gap is narrowing?" said BD Park, head of Samsung India when interviewed by Economic Times. Park also added that the share of Samsung was almost double of its closest competitor in 2013.
Samsung's market share managed to reach 14.4% which is down from the past quarter's record of 16.3%. However, the company was able to retain its number one spot regarding smartphone shipments when its shipments to India made up 25.3% of the total shipments made.
While Park has strongly disagreed with the report by Counterpoint Research, he had at least acknowledged the fact that Samsung had experienced a slowdown in its growth rate. "It is true that Samsung is not growing in the speed of growth that we've seen in the past but still we're growing and we're keeping our market share," said Park.
Park added that there must be some foul play involved in the recently made studies on the Korean company's losing status in the Indian market. "There is some business motive behind release of such kind of data," said Park.
It should be noted that Samsung's dominant position in the Indian smartphone market has faced challenges by several companies from India and China. These would include Xolo and Micromax of India and Xiaomi and Gionee of China. Motorola is also doing quite well with its innovative strategy known as "online-exclusive."
In the budget segment of the mobile phone market, customers are given the option to purchase smartphones with highly desired specifications at very attractive prices. The key players in this arena would include Motorola and Asus. On the other hand, Samsung has no products lined up yet which can challenge the current players. Moreover, there are no signs indicating that the company would even enter such venture.
