Samsung eyes expansion, planning to make India smartphone manufacturing hub

Samsung is planning to make India its smartphone manufacturing hub. To this end, it plans to make investments in research and development centers. It is also planning manufacturing facilities to further bolster the competitiveness of its products, the global head of Samsung was quoted as saying in a report in The Economic Times (ET).

The report also quoted TM Roh, head of mobile experience business at Samsung Electronics, as saying, "We have R&D in the centre here. So, for the new innovations, we will continue our investments in this critical area. We will continue our investment to bring optimisation through smart factories to the Noida facilities. It will bring competitiveness in the production."

The South Korean electronics major plans to invest in setting up smart manufacturing capabilities at its second largest mobile phone plant in Noida as it aims to make production more competitive. Roh also said that the company looks at India as a smartphone manufacturing hub and plans to export handsets to other countries. To achieve this, Samsung is working with local partners, the report added.

Roh was quoted as saying in the report, “Samsung India, for a long time, has been focusing on the make-for-India and make-in-India trend. We are not only focusing on meeting the domestic needs, but [would want] also to use India as a hub for exports. From the Noida production facilities, Samsung India is exporting to many countries across the world, and it will continue to do so.”

Samsung works in collaboration with local partners. For example, Samsung gets its feature phones made by a third-party Indian contract manufacturer, ET reported.

Roh told ET that the Indian market is in a phase of transition where users are rapidly shifting from feature phones to smartphones. He further added that within smartphones, the market is shifting from entry-level to mid- and premium-segment handsets. He said that demand for mobile phones priced over $400 is rising, and the trend is expected to continue as the 5G network expands.