Popular Galaxy 'M' series set to hit refresh: Samsung's Asim Warsi

To compete with the growing share of Chinese players like Xiaomi and Vivo in the mid-budget segment, Samsung came up with a brand new, online-exclusive Galaxy M series for millennials as an online exclusive in January last year.

In almost a year-and-a-half time span, the series has generated mass appeal in the affordable segment; writing a success story for the South Korean giant and helping it gain a substantial share in the online segment.

What clicked for 'Galaxy M' series in India is simple: The company closely picked up insights from the young Indian millennials who shop online, and translated those inputs into 'Make in India' handsets that brought super sales, and are still doing the same with newer models.

"We are entirely grateful to our consumers for the success of Galaxy M series in India. This success is an ode to the fact that M series was designed ground-up in India for the young Indian consumers and manufactured at our factory in Noida," Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Samsung India, told IANS.

The whole Galaxy M series, in particular the Galaxy M30s device, performed well in the online segment last year, helping revive Samsung's online share.

The company last month added two new products M11 and M01 to its M-series portfolio and M21 in the last quarter to taste the same success again which it got in 2019 due to M30s.

According to Counterpoint Research, online channels are likely to account for a highest-ever 45 per cent share of smartphone sales in 2020 owing to the Covid-19 situation as people would prefer to buy devices online to maintain social distancing.

"The 'M' series is doing quite well and helped Samsung in gaining share in online channels. Largest battery (6000mAh), powerful specs with strong value proposition are some of the factors which contributed to its success," said Prachir Singh, Senior Research Analyst, Counterpoint.

Though the 'M' series was made available in the offline channel in small quantities, "it has remained online-heavy", Singh told IANS

According to Warsi, the Galaxy 'M' series brand is a perfect reflection of its young owners, standing out as the most youthful, energetic and aspirational handset in the market.

The USP of Galaxy 'M' brand is its powerful performance, coming through its industry-leading 6000mAh battery technology, the Super AMOLED Infinity-O display and the powerful Quad camera experience.

"These next-generation features are available in the affordable segment below Rs 20,000. The combination of this monstrous feature stack at these affordable prices, truly make for a winning brand choice for our consumers," said Warsi.

Going forward, Samsung is set to launch exciting new models under Galaxy 'M' series during the second half this year.

"We will make sure that these new models are founded on forward-looking consumer insights that will pack-in the sort of powerful features that only the 'M' series have come to stand for in the industry," the Samsung executive told IANS.

The exciting news to add here is that the new models in 'M' series would address a wider spectrum of young aspiring consumers, "whereby we would offer models below Rs 10,000 as well as in the above Rs 20,000 segment," announced Warsi.

According to Singh, maintaining price parity across channels and aggressive marketing of its revamped portfolio can help Samsung in leveraging 'M' series in the upcoming festive season.