The rumours have been doing the rounds for a couple of months now. The confirmation has finally come in. Samsung is going to deliver a new series of smartphones this month. Called the Galaxy M series, three devices will be launched, targetted at millennials. The news comes a few weeks ahead of the South Korean giant’s big flagship launch, the Galaxy S10, on February 20, in San Francisco.

t2 chats with Asim Warsi, senior vice-president, Samsung India, to know about the upcoming Galaxy M series.

Asim Warsi Telegraph picture

What’s the idea behind the new Galaxy M series?

We’re at the start of 2019 and we’re really excited about the coming year. Samsung is launching a new series of smartphones that is focused on millennial consumers in India. Over a third of the country’s population comprise millennials but what makes it interesting is over half of the millennial shoppers buy their phones online. So the devices will be served to them in their channel of preference (online).

Tell us about the research that went into designing the new series.

If I were to describe the Galaxy M Series in a word, it would be ‘power’. It is power and power in every dimension that is important to the millennial consumer.

Let me describe some of the aspects. Some of the Galaxy M devices will sport, for instance, a 5,000mAh battery, which is a first of sorts from Samsung. And it’s not just about battery capacity or battery size. There are further battery power management systems and software that come loaded in Galaxy M devices. It doesn’t stop there. We have also packed in Samsung fast-charging technology.

Consumers want the latest in terms of camera, so we’ve dual cameras. Consumers are discerning about the processor and the speed at which they are able to operate phones; Galaxy M devices will come with Exynos processors.

And last but not the least, it’s about consumption — consumption of video, consumption of games, consumption of content and all that happens on a display. So once again we’re going to get the marquee display technologies on the Galaxy M. One of the new Galaxy M phones will feature super-AMOLED technology.

The smartphones come with Infinity V cut as we call them.

I think these four cornerstones serve as our best understanding of the millennials.

What made Samsung agree to the Infinity V notch?

We do not have a notch. Our display is called Infinity V cut and we’ve designed it following extensive research among millennial consumers. Galaxy M will sport Infinity V display.

How did you arrive at the price points in the series?

I will indicate the range for the Galaxy M devices and the range is really the belly of the market. The Indian smartphone market, you are well aware of, is in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 price segment and the sub-Rs 10,000 price segment. So the Galaxy M models and the variants we are launching will straddle all the price points.

How many phones are we looking at?

To start with, we are looking at three Galaxy M devices — M10, M20 and M30.

How would you distinguish it from your Galaxy J and Galaxy A series devices?

The Galaxy J series was designed around the young Indian consumer; it was designed and launched first in India. And it was ahead of the curve in terms of customer expectations. So the J series was designed for 2015 and further. The M series is designed for 2019 and for the road ahead. Further, the J series, though was incepted from India, went global. The Galaxy A series is also designed for millennials and like-minded consumers who know what they want from a smartphone; a stylish and convenient mobile experience to suit a modern, busy lifestyle.

How does the new series fit into Samsung’s bigger picture?

The series has been designed ground up in India. Like all our smartphones, Galaxy M will be manufactured at our Noida factory and it comes with several ‘Make for India’ innovations. We are confident that it will become hugely popular with millennials and help us double our online business in the year ahead.

What’s your rollout strategy?

We will do the launch announcement of the series at the end of the month (January 28) and early February is when the devices go on sale. We are partnering with Amazon and we will also sell on the Samsung India e-store.