Growing demand for cell phone that accepts more than one chip

While telecommunications companies seek to strengthen the sales subsidies of smartphones and data plans to attract and capture more customers, consumers try to escape from dependence on a single operator with the acquisition of devices capable of operating with two or more rows at the same time.
According to heard by the manufacturers value, the search for this device type was previously restricted to cheaper phones. In recent months, however, grew the demand for more sophisticated smartphones with these characteristics. Consultancy GfK Retail and Technology does not disclose the number of sales of smartphones that support more than one chip (called "multi SIM"), but confirms that growth was stronger in sales of appliances in the range between $ 450 and $ 699.
Aware of this trend, manufacturers try to increase the supply of smartphones with these characteristics. Samsung, which registered an increase in market share of 17% in 2011 to 42.4% in 2012, according to consulting firm Gartner, reinforced the provision of devices that accept two chips. Michel Piestun, Vice President of Samsung's telecommunications, said that of 50 templates released per year, 12 allow the use of more than one line. "Some of our sales champions are smartphones with two chips," he said.
This year, Samsung has also launched more high value-added models such as the Samsung Galaxy III, with two memory cards. Piestun stated that, after doing research with consumers, noted that there is a pent-up demand among users of more sophisticated devices for smartphones with these characteristics. "Many professionals have a particular mobile phone line and one for the work and the two should meet in an elegant device to present in the workplace," said the Executive. Piestun reported that sales of smartphones grew 78 percent in the country in 2012 and there is room to keep this pace of expansion this year, especially for devices with more than one chip.
LG Electronics, which increased its market share in smartphones from 7.2% to 13.3% last year, has also strengthened the provision of devices that accept two or more chips. Raphael Ramirez, General Manager of products and LG's strategy said that 40% of sales of smartphones are phones with these characteristics. "The majority of users in the country adopts prepaid plans and has an interest in keeping more than one chip to take advantage of the promotions," he said. The Executive said that LG smartphones already offered with two and three chips and next month will bring to market devices that accept four chips. Most of the sales of these products is focused on the retailers.
Rodrigo Vidigal, chief marketing officer of Motorola Mobility, said the manufacturer also expanded the supply of sophisticated smartphones with more than one chip. "This type of technology has attracted enough consumers," he said. Last year, Motorola Mobility's participation has grown from 4.2% to 8.2%, according to Gartner. Vinicius Costa, Portfolio Manager and Nokia products, also reported an increase in demand for models with two chips.