It’s not just Samsung’s smartphone business that is facing the heat from Chinese rivals. Its TV business is also under attack with dozens of new brands making their presence felt in the price sensitive market. According to IDC’s Q4 2018 data, Xiaomi has emerged as the largest smart TV vendor in the country with 33.5% market share, followed by LG at 16.7% and Sony at 14.8%. Samsung is placed fourth with 13.3% market share, indicating its growing troubles in the subcontinent.
While Samsung has been aggressively trying to counter the threat from Chinese rivals in the smartphone space, it has been mostly subdued in the TV space so far, content with its dominance in the premium TV segment. However, it appears the company has finally decided to be more aggressive and is tinkering its strategy to take on its rivals in the country.
Samsung revamps its TV portfolio in India
Under the new strategy, the Korean company has launched a new lineup of online-exclusive TVs to compete more effectively on price and a new series of TVs for its offline partners. Samsung’s new offerings target all price points and are aimed at the younger generation with a host of smart features that are developed in India under the ‘Make for India’ initiative. Despite the focus on smart TVs, the company also intends to continue making non-smart TVs as it sees a place for them in the Indian TV market.
“We are available across all price points unlike several competitors. We will continue to invest in consumer-centric benefits and hopes all these efforts along with a revamped product portfolio will help us to increase our lead,” said Raju Pullan, senior VP, Samsung India. He expects Samsung TV revenue to grow substantially and the advent of 5G playing a role in that.
Samsung also seems to be dismissive about IDC TV sales data, just as it did with smartphones before. The company instead quotes numbers from GfK to assert its dominance in the country. According to these numbers, Samsung has 30% value share in the entire TV market and 35% value share in the UHD smart TV segment in the country, leading both the categories as of February this year.
