Samsung Employee Says the Galaxy S4 has Caused a Crisis at the Company

[cereal killer]

With the Samsung Galaxy SIII being one of Sammy's most popular and highest selling smartphones last year, you'd think that naturally the bigger and "better" S4 would be doing just as well, if not better, right?. Well, not so fast. After already 20 million units shipped - not sold - analysts have already predicted a slowdown, and now an anonymous Samsung employee has said that the Galaxy S4 has made the company experience a “crisis”. Sales were expected to hit 100 million units, and while 20 million units shipped is nothing to sneeze at, it appears the S4 is well off pace in hitting those numbers. This can be attributed to the market saturation here in the West with Samsung's other high end products (Galaxy Note 2 and SIII) keeping predicted sales of the S4 at bay. The Galaxy Note 2 and SIII are still top notch handsets despite being "old tech", and customers aren't ditching them in favor of the "latest and greatest" from Samsung.

Keep in mind the company is not going to be crippled and take a huge hit on their bottom line, but they are more than likely going to have to rework their product cycle and tidy up their device portfolio. One thing we can probably count on is that the Galaxy S5 will probably be the company's most innovative and hard hitting device yet. We shall see.....

Source: AndroidBeat

 

[Dusty]

Solution?

Price cut.

 

[pc747]

With the Samsung Galaxy SIII being one of Sammy's most popular and highest selling smartphones last year, you'd think that naturally the bigger and "better" S4 would be doing just as well, if not better, right?. Well, not so fast. After already 20 million units shipped - not sold - analysts have already predicted a slowdown, and now an anonymous Samsung employee has said that the Galaxy S4 has made the company experience a “crisis”. Sales were expected to hit 100 million units, and while 20 million units shipped is nothing to sneeze at, it appears the S4 is well off pace in hitting those numbers. This can be attributed to the market saturation here in the West with Samsung's other high end products (Galaxy Note 2 and SIII) keeping predicted sales of the S4 at bay. The Galaxy Note 2 and SIII are still top notch handsets despite being "old tech", and customers aren't ditching them in favor of the "latest and greatest" from Samsung.

Keep in mind the company is not going to be crippled and take a huge hit on their bottom line, but they are more than likely going to have to rework their product cycle and tidy up their device portfolio. One thing we can probably count on is that the Galaxy S5 will probably be the company's most innovative and hard hitting device yet. We shall see.....

Source: AndroidBeat

That statement is well put. If you made huge sales on the s3 and note 2 then only so many people will be left to buy the s4. I guess Samsung are wanting android fans to be like iphone fans where we get so excited about a new device that we sell the one we just bought so we can be cool and hip. Except we have the development community to help curve that need. Now Samsung if you want to impress us how about releasing the 4.2.2 software update to the note 2 and s3 sometime soon. Also it would be nice if you would release google experience software for the note 2 and s3 so users can have a choice of software.

 

[johnomaz]

Not only that, but the S4 is the iPhone 4S from Samsung. Its a minor bump. Honestly, I see smart phones starting to peak and level off in terms of hardware. Some things can be upgraded but really, how much more can you get past a 13 megapixel camera? Better quality would be nice, but you're talking about a very small package and millions of people that don't care about the quality. Processor speed, they can get it faster, but its quickly approaching speeds on the desktop. Efficiency is their only savior and on smartphones...does that matter. You can put more RAM in it but at a certain point, it won't matter anymore either. All the software features are mostly stupid. Make something like this http://goo.gl/fwQCz and then you have something new. I'm not sure how they could expect to sell 100 million units. Very few customers actually upgrade every model. Most wait two years and even then, many wait until the phone dies.

 

[kevsgroove]

Also it would be nice if you would release google experience software for the note 2 and s3 so users can have a choice of software.

...... and press Verizon to make the Google edition software an option to install for S4 owners that so desire.

 

[pc747]

...... and press Verizon to make the Google edition software an option to install for S4 owners that so desire.

True but you guys can still get it via rom development.

 

[zomnomnombie]

Solution?

Price cut.

-Price cut indicates mistake was made.

-Mistakes bleed credibility.

-Lost credibility makes you uncool.

-Uncool is hard on future sales.

Price cuts on newer devices are good for short term sales but bad long term. Samsung has not gotten where they are thinking short term.

I understand people want the latest device for cheap but that's bad marketing.

 

[jspradling7]

Or, could be due to many new devices popping out every few months or so and all selling into the millions or units...
Plus
Provider contract upgrades at 18 to 24 months...
Plus
700 hundred dollar retail price to upgrade early...
Equals
Eventual Market saturation.

 

[cybertec69]

The problem is people are tied down to one device for two years, so the ones that got the S3 or any phone around the time the S3 came out are more than likely having to wait for the S5 or something else next year, and that goes on every carrier, these phone manufacturers had to know this, and it is not just Samsung. Add in the crappie world economy "in America we print money, which will bite us in the end", especially Europe, people just don't have that extra spending power of years past.

 

[dezymond]

Looks like the "Apple" business model backfired on them quicker than expected.

Happy s4 owner here though. Significant upgrade over the Nexus I was rockin for 18 months.

 

[kevsgroove]

True but you guys can still get it via rom development.

Yeah, but I've been admittedly to lazy to root, especially when the device does practically everything I want without it. :happy3:

 

[kodiak799]

Apple is seeing a similar slowdown, and it's more than just cannibalization or someone taking market share.

I think two things are happening:
1) Adoption is finally maturing and growth is slowing, or at least the "late adopters" aren't rushing out to pay a premium for the latest and greatest.

2) At some point, people are going to save their money and keep their devices longer when there's no real benefit to upgrading. With the exception of games, even devices a year old or more are more than sufficient for what people do with their phones. Like pc's and laptops, the vast majority of people won't really need to upgrade until it actually stops working.

 

[pc747]

Yeah, but I've been admittedly to lazy to root, especially when the device does practically everything I want without it. :happy3:

You make a good point and something I must admit I overlooked. Those that chooses to download the rom have to be rooted which means they void their warranty to do so. If Samsung can offer the software for those to install and remain stock (and not voided warranty) then those who may not want to root can also have a choice in software.

 

[johnomaz]

Yeah, but I've been admittedly to lazy to root, especially when the device does practically everything I want without it. :happy3:

I'm with you. I got tired of updating my ROM constantly. I got tired of having to do full wipes and restore apps and ultimately always losing something I forgot about. Though I enjoy the AOSP experience, it became a chore. My Stock S3 experience (though rooted) does nearly everything I want it to do now. All the little enhancements a ROM used to give you are in the stock firmware now. No, they may not be as easy to get to or flawlessly executed, but they are there.

 

[cybertec69]

I'm with you. I got tired of updating my ROM constantly. I got tired of having to do full wipes and restore apps and ultimately always losing something I forgot about. Though I enjoy the AOSP experience, it became a chore. My Stock S3 experience (though rooted) does nearly everything I want it to do now. All the little enhancements a ROM used to give you are in the stock firmware now. No, they may not be as easy to get to or flawlessly executed, but they are there.

That is why I always do a backup of each of the ROMS I flash, it is very easy to do by using TWRP. You never have to reload your apps or settings, since each ROM you backup " by making a nandroid" you preserve all the settings in that ROM. I have like 5 different ROMS on my external micro SD card, including the stock ROM on my S3.


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