Samsung seems to be following the lead of Nokia as far as targeting a different market segment. Since Nokia shifted towards mass producing low-priced phones, Samsung has set its sights on the same niche amidst the economic downturns to reduce global handsets this year.

Expanding the low-priced phone shipment, Samsung’s Handset average sales price (ASP) will be expected to decrease continuously while its handset ASP in 2008 decreased 10% compared with the previous year.

“In the global handset market, the demand will be polarized with high-end and low-end phones, not mid-tie,” Samsung said. In addition to low-priced phones, Samsung will focus on expanding the smartphone market with double its smartphone lineup to cope with high-end market competition.

(Source) Telecoms Korea