Can Micromax beat Samsung with launch of 30 smartphones this yr?

New Delhi: Domestic handset maker Micromax on Monday  said it will launch 30 smartphones this year to expand the portfolio of handsets and tablet PCs as it eyes leadership position in the segment. “We have a strong portfolio of products in the smart devices category, which contributes about 40-45 per cent of our revenues. We are looking at bringing in 30 new smartphones this year across price categories and take up market leadership position,” Micromax CEO Deepak Mehrotra told reporters here. [caption id=“attachment_596733” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Micromax Funbook Infinity[/caption]According to CyberMedia Research, a total of 102.43 million units were shipped to India during January-June 2012, of which 5.50 million units were smartphones. Nokia was the overall leader with a 22.2 percent share, while Samsung and Micromax followed with 13 per cent and 5.5 percent market share. Samsung led the smartphone race with a 41.6 percent share, followed by Nokia (19.2 percent) and Research in Motion (12.1 percent). Micromax today announced the launch of its Canvas HD smartphone in the “phablet” category. “Canvas HD follows the Canvas and Canvas II, which were introduced last last year. It will be priced sub-Rs 15,000 and will be available from February onwards,” Mehrotra said. Canvas HD has a five-inch touchscreen smartphone, powered by 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and has Android Jellybean operating system. It has a 8MP camera and expandable memory up to 32GB. “In the October-December quarter, we shipped 198,100 units in the five-inch device category, much higher than competition. In January, we are confident of 1.3 times higher growth in sales,” Mehrotra said. PTI