Korean handset maker Samsung on Wednesday said it eyes a 40 per cent share in the Indian smartphone market by December this year as it launches more devices to expand its product portfolio.

The company, which now has 15 smartphones in its portfolio, is planning to launch more smart devices in the months ahead.

"We launch about 40-45 handsets in a year and a fair chunk of these would be smartphones ... We currently have 18 per cent share of the smartphone segment and by the end of the calender year, we should have a 40 per cent share," Samsung India Country Head (Mobile and IT) Ranjit Yadav told reporters here.

According to industry estimates, current smartphone sales are about five million handsets a year, and is expected to grow to about eight million units in annual sales next year.

The company today launched its new smartphone Galaxy S II, priced at Rs 32,890. Successor to Galaxy S, the new handset is equipped with a faster processor, better display screen and more features.

Galaxy S II has an eight MP camera with LED flash, a front 2-MP camera, WiFi, Bluetooth and is based on the Android operating system.

Growing smartphones sales are expected to get a further fillip with the roll out of 3G services in the country. 3G services, which offer high-speed internet access, have already been rolled out by operators like Bharti airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Aircel.

India is the world's second-largest market, after China, for telecom services with 811.59 million subscribers at the end of March, 2011.

US-based Apple is also launching its iPhone 4 in India on May 27. Rivals like Nokia, LG and Motorola are also introducing newer smartphones to compete in the heated smartphone race.