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Samsung expects a strong return to China after releasing medium-priced phone

The South Korean brand has lost substantial market share in China following the explosive battery incident two years ago.
Written by Cyrus Lee, Contributor
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(Image: Samsung)

Samsung is aiming for a strong return to China as it unveiled medium-priced mobile products equipped with the company's most advanced technologies on Monday, according to its China chief.

"I want to tell you that Samsung China has returned. With the products launched today, we are able to compete with any other brands," Samsung's China unit chief Kwon Kye-hyun said in Beijing on Monday, according to a NetEase report.

Kwon made the remarks during Samsung's product launch event of the Galaxy A8s, which sports a 6.4 inch Infinity-O display and a triple camera setup.

Samsung did not unveil the prices of the phone during the event, but the company did announce its shift in strategy towards introducing more medium-priced phones -- equipped with the latest innovations and top-notch technology -- to the Chinese market and the world, said the report.

The world's largest smartphone vendor will also be changing its marketing strategy in China by placing more emphasis on using celebrities to promote its products, as well as collaborating with other brands. Kwon also mentioned that Samsung will release a special Galaxy A8s FE model that has been specially designed for women, according to the NetEase report.

Despite Samsung being a market leader among global smartphone vendors, its mobile market share in China has dipped below 1 percent to a mere 0.8 percent as of the second quarter this year, local media reported earlier.

Samsung's fading momentum in China is partially due to the emergence of Chinese smartphone brands, whose cost-effective products over the years have eroded the market share of both Samsung and Apple.

The Galaxy Note 7 battery explosion incident in 2016 also brought about huge criticism in China as Samsung refused to replace affected models for Chinese consumers, insisting that the models in China were equipped with safe batteries even after several explosion incidents had been reported.

The product launch of the Galaxy A8s follows Samsung earlier this month promoting Roh Tae-moon to head of mobile research as part of its plan to revive its medium-price phone lineup.

According to company insiders, Roh has been tasked with reviving the company's mid-tier line-up, the Galaxy A series.

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