MUMBAI: Close on the heels of becoming the world's largest seller of smartphones, Korean major Samsung has overtaken its Finnish rival Nokia to become the leader in the domestic market as well. This is the first time that Samsung's share - both in volume and value terms - exceeded that of its rival, Nokia, which had the leadership position till now.

Samsung's volume market share in November stood at nearly 38%, and value share at 35.2%, industry sources told TOI, quoting market research firm, GfK.

The domestic smartphone witnessed a churn over the last few months with Samsung cornering the highest share in October in value terms. Samsung's share of 32.3% was the highest by value in the smartphone market, while rival firm Nokia led in terms of volume sales during that month. Globally too, Samsung surged past Apple to become the world's largest seller of smartphones for the third quarter ended September this year.

Says Samsung Mobile and IT country head Ranjit Yadav: "At Samsung, we believe in offering our consumers innovative smart mobile devices across different operating systems and different price points, and giving them more choice. This has helped Samsung emerge as the preferred brand in the smartphone market in India."

The domestic market witnessed a robust double-digit growth during November, with smartphones contributing around 6% to overall mobile handsets during the year.

The market which was around 2.5 million units last year is expected to close this year with 8.5 million units, and then double next year. Priced in the range Rs 6,000 to Rs 40,000, smartphones have witnessed a strong adoption not only amongst business executives, but also among youth for on-the-go entertainment and functional use.

Nokia couldn't be reached for comments despite repeated attempts. A Nokia spokesperson had earlier told TOI; "We have been at the forefront of shaping internet consumption through smartphones for our consumers with our unparalleled services portfolio."

To strengthen its portfolio, Nokia recently launched the Lumia family of smartphones and still continues to be a leader in the overall mobile market, though with lesser numbers.

Samsung made a foray in the domestic market in June last year and now has a portfolio of 13 smartphones across platforms. Factors which have spurred growth in these devices are affordability and availability across operating platforms - Windows, Android and bada. Also, over the year smartphones have become more affordable, and are available at attractive price points. The market dominated by Samsung, Nokia and RIM is expected to get more crowded with the entry of Chinese and other domestic companies next year. "We expect the smartphone portfolio to contribute 20% of our mobile portfolio by the end of the year," Yadav said.

According to CyberMedia Research, which tracks mobile handset sales, smartphone shipments touched the 7.9 million units in the January-September period this year, with sales crossing the 1 million mark for September alone. It also said that Samsung has become the market leader with the largest share in value terms in September.

Source :timesofindia.indiatimes.com