Since late last year, we've repeatedly heard about how Samsung intends to focus on the tablet market in 2014 and beyond. The numerous tablets launched by the company this year has been a good indication of its plans, but it looks Russia could prove to be a difficult market to win in Samsung's plans to achieve domination in the tablet market. According to data by research firm MTS, Samsung managed to sell only 282,000 tablets in the first quarter of 2014, which is down by 9.5 percent compared to the same period in 2013. The reason? Increased sales of low-cost tablets from local and white box manufacturers, which pushed both Samsung and Apple down in terms of market share.
This isn't a surprising revelation – in emerging markets, this is a trend that could be a huge issue for Samsung and other well-known mobile device manufacturers, as local companies can offer a better bang for the buck to consumers in the budget segment, a segment which will be the top growth provider for companies' revenues in the future. Samsung's upcoming AMOLED tablets might be able to woo quite a few consumers, but unless it can start offering lower-priced tablets (and smartphones) that match locally-made devices, its tablet market share in Russia could drop into single-digit numbers very soon.
