Samsung plans to launch India-first smartphones

MUMBAI, Jan 14 (Reuters): Samsung plans to launch a budget smartphone series in India ahead of a global release, aiming to regain ground ceded to Chinese rivals such as Xiaomi in the world's second-biggest mobile phone market.

The South Korean company's Indian market share by shipments has lagged Xiaomi's in two of the three 2018 quarters for which data is available, according to technology researcher Counterpoint.

The three new M-series phones, which Samsung plans to sell only through its website and Amazon.com's Indian operation, will help the company to double online sales, the head of Samsung's Indian mobile business told Reuters.

"The M series has been built around and incepted around Indian millennial consumers," Asim Warsi said, adding that the phones will be rolled out globally after the Indian launch at the end of January.

He declined to give specifics but said that online sales account for a double-digit percentage of the company's overall mobile phone revenue.

Samsung's mobile phone sales in India touched Rs 373.5 billion ($5.3 billion) in the 12 months to end-March 2018, according to regulatory filings sourced by paper.vc, a business intelligence platform.