Fifth generation (5G) smartphone shipments are likely to outpace 4G ones this year, with 5G penetration in the volume-heavy budget segment expected to increase triggering a replacement cycle, said a top executive from Korean major Samsung.
Aditya Babbar, vice president of MX (mobile experiences) business at Samsung said that the Korean major will be differentiating its products in the budget not only with 5G support but also with India-centric innovations and features.
Babbar, who has been newly elevated from senior director at Samsung, said the company has an aggressive target of selling 2 million units of its newly launched Galaxy F15 in the next 12-15 months.
“The way 2024 is emerging, one of the big demand centers will be 5G. 5G democratisation will take place at a faster pace and that is where you will see a large replacement demand coming from,” Babbar said.
“This might be the first year when 5G in terms of volumes will outgrow 4G,” he said, adding that analysts are expecting a 65:35 split between 5G and 4G handsets.
To catch on with the trend, and to compete with Chinese rivals such as Vivo and Xiaomi, Samsung introduced a Rs 12,000-priced 5G handset that it claimed trumps competition with a better display, bigger battery, and four years of software updates. Babbar said the combination of the three will give the product an edge over the others.
“We all agree that 5G is growing. The need for 5G is increasing but the need for only 5G is not increasing. Consumers need a complete phone with a good display, camera, battery, and the other things around it,” the executive said at the sidelines of the launch.
