New Delhi: South Korean tech giant Samsung will call it quits on low-value feature phones in India in favour of smartphones that are priced mostly above Rs 15,000, the media has reported. The company will realign its focus towards producing devices in the higher price tiers, said a report by The Economic Times.
The handset maker's last batch of low-value feature phones will be made by its partner Dixon this year in December, the report added citing a person familiar with the matter. This development comes in the wake of the production linked incentive (PLI) mandate that the brand will get incentives only if it produces handsets worth Rs 15,000 of factory price. Samsung is one of the two major MNCs contributing to the government's PLI scheme.
The feature phones segment is one area where Samsung was the market leader and the market has now been taken over by the likes of Itel and Lava. This also means the company will make fewer launches within the budget Rs 10,000 and below smartphone segment. The feature phone market in India has been on a decline. The feature phone market saw a 39 per cent year-on-year decline in the first quarter of 2022, according to a Counterpoint Research report. Samsung has now lost ground to Itel and Lava in the feature phones segment, according to the market research agency.
Samsung did not comment on a query sent by ABP Live on the matter.
According to the market research firm, supply issues, high inventory levels and softening of consumer demand due to high inflation were the major reasons for this decline. Itel led the feature phone market in with a 21 per cent share and it has been the top feature phone brand for nine consecutive quarters.