NEW DELHI: South Korean tech giant Samsung will open around 15 iconic experience centres in major Indian cities in 2023. While speaking on the sidelines of the Samsung Galaxy F54 5G launch, Raju Pullan, senior VP at Samsung India, said the company is elated with the response it got in the past two quarters, and subsequently, it is eyeing for double-digit growth in its mobile business this year. “We are opening 15 iconic experience centres in the country over this year. It's all the key metros, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune,” said Pullan.
According to the report by Counterpoint Research, Samsung continued to be the leader in the Indian smartphone market for the second consecutive quarter with a 20% share in Q1 2023. It was followed by Vivo with 17% market share, Xiaomi grabbed third position with 16% market share and Oppo with 12% market share was at fourth. Overall, smartphone shipments in India declined by 19% to about 31 million units in the January-March 2023 period.
Pullan said the reason for the growth in India was the company's 5G first approach. “Last year, we had 13 5G Smartphone launches, and this year so far we have already launched the 10th 5G Smartphone in the country. The 5G first approach and innovation through these new 5G Smartphones is helping the company to create a very strong tailwind,” he added.
He also gave credit to the Samsung Finance+ platform, which helps customers to get a loan sanctioned within 20 minutes at 70,000 retail stores across the country. He said this platform has made tech affordable to consumers. “So, we are also seeing very strong adoption where 250 million consumers are adopting smartphones,” he added.