“We will most likely sell more than 150,000 units,” said Sorin Manea, head of the telecom division of Samsung Romania and Bulgaria.
The model was launched in Romania on Wednesday night, a month after the worldwide launch in New York, and it will be available from the largest mobile telephony operators on the market.
Sorin Manea says he is optimistic about the sales of Samsung phones this year, even though the market started with a slight decline in volume.
“The year started well for us, but we can see a slight decline on the market, which might still be there by the end of the year. However, people are buying more and more smartphones, which are more expensive.”
The Samsung official believes the sales of smartphones could reach 1.3 million units from about 1 million in 2012. Moreover, their market share could go beyond 30% in 2013 from last year’s 23%.
Samsung is the “market leader with a share of 50%” of the smartphone segment, Manea said.
Samsung Galaxy S3 will continue to sell alongside S4 for as long as needed, because they target different market segments, the Samsung executive said. S3 was introduced on June 1, 2012 and sold more than 100,000 units by the end of the year.
Sorin Manea also expects to see more than 400,000 tablets sold in Romania this year, 33% more than in 2012. The other actors on this market estimated last year’s sales at 200,000 units.
“300,000 tablets were sold last year and sales will go beyond 400,000 units this year,” Manea said. He would not say how many of them would be Samsung tablets, only that Samsung ‘is in the lead by market share.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)