Thoughtful analysis on the nature of Samsung’s smartphone sales.
In a meeting with its concerned investors on Wednesday, the head of Samsung Mobile revealed numbers illustrating that the company sold fewer high end smartphones than Apple this year, and that only about a third of the company’s total “smartphone” shipments are of a class really comparable to the iPhone.
This is a problem for Samsung. They are seeing the beginning of market saturation for their high-end smartphones, are relying on older/lesser model sales to bolster revenues. With minimal exceptions, all of Apple’s phone sales are high-end smartphones. And that’s where the margins are. Hard for Samsung to keep this going, especially without making inroads on battery life and processing power (still no 64-bit devices).
Lots to absorb, worth a read.
DOOOMED.
“still no 64-bit devices”? Apple released their first 64-bit phone not even two months ago!
Samsung’s “saturated” is not the same as a far-distant saturation for the iPhone. As long as Apple’s loyalty rate is far higher than Samsung’s, then the iPhone will keep growing.
Solution: differentiate more! Release more models with minimal differences! Flood the market with cheaper handsets! Hire more “reviewers” to post how awesome and innovative Samsung is!
ha ha ha. But isn’t that already their strategy? 0_o
Smartphone saturation isn’t just for Samsung. We’ve seen numbers dip for Apple and Android activations. Schmidt called saturation years ago; it’s one of the things he got right when talking to the media in the past few years. 🙂
64-bit is a stretch there though. As Jacobo noted below, Apple just launched theres so it’s too soon to look down your nose at non-64 bit devices.
Good thing for Samsung is they finally realize they need to work on their software: http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/6/5071994/samsung-analyst-day-2013-software-investment. I have long said they make good/ok software but focuses too much on “demoable” features instead of polishing off their current features. If they get the software right, they could see an uptick.
Samsung: We skate to where the puck just left!
I’ll be seriously surprised if they come up with anything else.
… and benefit from positive net churn vs other platforms
Where are you seeing Apple activations dip?