Samsung betting big on smartphones

South Korean mobile handset maker Samsung is betting big on smartphones and expects the segment to contribute 15% to the sales volume by the year-end.

Currently, smartphones account for about 10% of the handsets sold by the company in the country.

"Over 1,300 Galaxy SII handsets were booked online in 10 days. We have received good response from the market on this device and we expect this model to give 20% volume growth in smartphone sales month-over-month," a company spokesperson said.

She declined to comment on revenue details since the company does not divulge revenue by products.

Priced at Rs 32,890, Galaxy SII was available for online booking from May 26 and in open market from June 9. Samsung has 15 devices in its smartphone portfolio in the country.

The company is also eyeing 40 per cent share of the Indian smartphone market by December this year.

According to industry estimates, current smartphone sales are about five million a year, and it is expected to grow to about eight million units in annual sales next year.

Growing smartphones sales are expected to get a further filip with the roll out of 3G services in the country. 3G services, which offer high-speed Internet access, have already been doled out by operators like Bharti airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Aircel.

India is the world's second-largest market, after China, for telecom services with 826.93 million subscribers at the end of April 2011.

US-based Apple has also launched its iPhone 4 in India and rivals Nokia, LG and Motorola are also introducing newer smartphones to compete in the heated smartphone race.