LG debuts in sub-Rs 15,000 smartphone market

LG launched its first locally made smartphones in the sub-Rs 15,000 price category of handsets-- K7 and K10

LG India is getting active in the smartphone market, with an eye on the budget segment.

While the Korean consumer durables major has lagged the top 10 brands here in recent times, it is now working to leverage the “huge growth potential” the mobile handset business offers in the country, said Kim Ki-Wan, managing director of LG India.

On Thursday, it announced its first locally made smartphones in the sub-Rs 15,000 price category of handsets.

These are LG’s first country-specific models anywhere in the world, based on consumer insights it collected in India for several months.

The sub-Rs 15,000 category is 75 per cent of the smartphone market.

LG’s shift of focus is a needed move, deviating from the premium (above Rs 30,000) category, experts said.

LG had after dominating the CDMA handset market not held on to its control when the era of smartphones began in the country in 2011.

Ki-Wan says he’d determined to build its smartphone business in the fastest growing major market in the world for this segment. “We are in talks with several operators for augmented services,” he told this newspaper. Offering software-driven utility and entertainment services and mobile payment is a trend that will be driving sales in the handsets market, experts say.

To strengthen its portfolio LG will be launching some eight models by September this year, including its flagship G5, unveiled at the Mobile World Congress two months earlier. The company is also planning to enhance consumer engagement through its 1,720 branded stores in the country.

Local manufacturing also helps LG to cut costs by up to nine per cent of the total cost of handsets, which will help it cut on prices. Currently, LG imports a majority of its handsets from facilities in South Korea and China.

“As we keep expanding our production units here, more smartphones will be shipped out of our Indian factories,” Ki-Wan said.

LG has two local plants, in Pune and Greater Noida.