Samsung to end its feature phones in India; focuses only on expensive phones

Samsung is ending its low-cost feature phone business in India, if the latest rumours are to be believed. Samsung has been selling low-cost feature phones to rural markets despite achieving big sales figures for its luxury Samsung Galaxy devices. Samsung is now said to be pulling the plug on its feature phones by the end of this year, with the latest batch of devices due to be manufactured in December. These batches will be made by Samsung's contact maker, Dixon, the report says.

"Samsung has spoken to channel partners and said they will exit the India feature phone business in the next few months or by this year's end," a source told The Economic Times. Neither Samsung has commented on this novelty, nor its manufacturer Dixon. While the feature phone business is winding down, sources say Samsung is targeting the higher price tiers, with smartphones costing just above Rs. 15,000.

Are Samsung feature phones ending?

The move comes with Samsung's mandate to get sops only on the production of smartphones worth more than ₹15,000 at the factory price. Also, average selling prices in India have risen, with more sales in the ₹10,000-20,000 price segment, market insiders say.

Feature phone sales have seen a 39 percent year-over-year decline in the first quarter of 2022, according to data from Counterpoint Research. This was mainly due to tight supply, high inventory levels and falling demand. In this, Itel and Lava led the charts, with Samsung in third place.

While the feature phone business is closed, Samsung is posting good sales figures for its high-end Galaxy smartphones. As per Counterpoint Research's reproach date, Samsung performed exceptionally well in the first quarter of 2022 with its Galaxy S22 series devices, all of which are priced above Rs. 70,000. The Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus are direct rivals to the Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini, while the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra goes up against the iPhone 13 Pro devices.

We reviewed all of these phones and even compared them to each other, only to find that the Samsung S22 Ultra took over from the iPhone 13 Pro Max, with the Samsung S22 series outperforming the iPhone 13 range in terms of user experience.