Distributing Android Apps to Samsung’s China App Store

Customers in a Samsung China store

Want to publish to China via Samsung's Galaxy Store Seller Portal?
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The question has come up a few times recently about whether it is possible to distribute to China via the global Samsung Galaxy Store Seller Portal as a western developer / publisher. So we thought we’d answer that. Simply put, No, it’s not. Not if you want any degree of certainty that your app will be available in China on Samsung’s China app store.

From the seller portal backend, you will be able to select China as a target country under the advanced options for Country and Price as below:

Previously, we had noted that some apps publisehd via the global Samsung Galaxy Store Seller Portal made their way to the Chinese Samsung app store avialable to cusomters in China. However, this is no longer the case from what we’ve observed. We’ve also noted some apps that were previously published via this route have been removed.

This means that app submission via the global Seller Portal when targeting Chinese customers in Mainland China is not an option, or it least the results may be inconsistent. 

According to Samsung’s support; 

“Technically, it is not easy for non-Chinese sellers to get a proper verification due to the new policy of China government, so it seems that it is the only way to have partnership with an agent in China in order to distribute applications in China.”

As submission of an app to any Chinese app store requires real name registration of a Chinese entity, we would concur with Samsung’s advice. This is why our China team submit as a Chinese developer / publisher via Samsung China. That is our recommend and secure route for distributing apps to the Samsung app store in China. 

Whilst a popular device manufacturer in China, Samsung’s app store market share is quite low (many speculate less than 1%), with users preferring other 3rd party app stores. 

For more information and to discuss broader China app store distibution, drop us a mail!

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