Looks like Samsung is re-visiting their portfolio of low-end Android phones following the heat of Motorola’s recent value-for-money smartphone launches that literally smoked out all of Samsung’s low-end Android phones.
A Samsung phone running Android 4.4.2 with the screen size of 4.3 inches was spotted being imported from South Korea to India on Zauba, a site which maintains database of Imports and Exports in India.
The phone’s model number is SM-G350E, and at this time it’s being imported for research & development purposes only. The imports data of the phone dates back to April 9th, 2014, which is surprisingly the same time we heard first rumors of the Moto E.
The imports data also shows the price of this new low-end Samsung phone, SM-G350E to be INR 6070 ($103) which is even lower than the Moto E.
It’ll be tough competition to Motorola if Samsung sets its foot in this price range with a hardware that’s similar or better than Motorola’s Moto E. Samsung has a robust distribution channel across the world and Motorola lacks badly at that. Take India for an example, India is the biggest market for budget Android phones in the entire world. Motorola winded up its Mobile business in India earlier in 2013 and it left the company with no physical store in the country. At this time Motorola’s only distribution network in India is an online retailer, Flipkart. While on the other Samsung has the largest distribution network in the country when it comes to selling smartphones, and they are so damn good with their marketing as well.
If Samsung launches a smartphone with the price tag of INR 6070 ($103) or even equal to price of Motorola’s Moto E ($129), it’s going to give Motorola a run for their money despite the fact that they are a better manufacturer than Samsung. Samsung’s distribution network and marketing has always played a huge role in their device sales and will prove its worth for this low-end device sales as well.
via Zauba
