Samsung in talks with component partners to boost operations in India

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Samsung views India as a crucial market with Noida and Bengaluru becoming one of its biggest R&D centres, and is in talks with Indian component partners to strengthen its operations, a senior official said.

Samsung Electronics President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business TM Roh was speaking at a media roundtable here on the sidelines of Samsung Unpacked 2024.

"The Indian market is very important to Samsung. We have operated the manufacturing facility since 1996, and we also have R&D centres in India. Noida and Bengaluru R&D centres have become one of the biggest R&D centres of Samsung and MX business," he said.

"They are busy developing flagship products as well as contributing to the development of Galaxy AI technologies," Roh said, adding that these collaborations and efforts will continue in the future.

In January this year, Roh termed India as one of Samsung's important manufacturing bases and said that the Korean electronics major will start manufacturing laptops this year at its Noida facility.

"We are also working closely with component partners in the Indian market to strengthen infrastructure and supply chain. We have done so, and we will continue to do so going forward," Roh said.

At Samsung Unpacked 2024, the tech giant expanded its wearables portfolio with the launch of Galaxy Ring, a health and wellness wearable device powered by Galaxy AI.

It also unveiled its sixth generation foldable smartphones Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6, along with Galaxy Buds3 and Galaxy Buds3 Pro.

Both Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 are manufactured at the Noida facility.

"The Indian market is one of the markets where the foldable range is growing exponentially, and at the centre lies Galaxy foldables

"Particularly, making health AI possible on our new products like watches and foldables, the contribution and efforts of Indian R&D centres were immense," Roh said.

He further said that the company expects the market demand to grow this year and has high expectations around Indian customers and consumers adopting the new foldable range with the incorporation of optimised Galaxy AI.

"We will come closer to the consumers through diverse initiatives like first-hand experience programmes, game-related promotional activities, and Olympic sponsorship-related activities as well," he said.

On the monetisation of AI services, Roh said mobile AI technologies and their usage patterns are progressing at such a speed that it would be too premature to comment on how it could be monetised.

"I believe monetisation-related decisions should be and will be made based on a comprehensive review of the customer voice and customer needs, market demands, market needs, and technological trends and changes," he said.