Samsung Demotes Design Chief; Unpopular 'Dimples' on Back of Galaxy S5 to Blame

[dgstorm]

Samsung is shuffling around some of their higher level design team executives. Dong-Hoon Chang was Samsung’s chief of mobile design, but has since been demoted to head of the design strategy team. Earlier reports from several mobile websites indicated Chang was asked to resign, but that turns out to not be entirely accurate. Lee Min-hyouk, vice president for mobile design has taken up the mantle as the new chief of mobile design for Samsung.

Here's Samsung's statement on the matter,

"Vice President Min-hyouk Lee has recently been promoted to Head of Design Team within the Mobile Communications Business of Samsung Electronics. The realignment enables Executive Vice President Dong-hoon Chang to focus more on his role as Head of Design Strategy Team, the company's corporate design center which is responsible for long-term design strategy across all of Samsung Electronics' businesses, including Mobile Communications."

Industry speculation blames Chang's demotion on weak critical reception to the dimpled, plastic-backed Galaxy S5, and to general consumer malaise regarding the Galaxy S line's previous mediocre aesthetics. Here's a quote with a great explanation of this,

The Galaxy S5, which debuted globally last month, has received a lukewarm response from consumers due to its lack of eye-popping hardware innovations, while its plastic case design has been panned by some critics for looking cheap and made out of a conveyor belt. The Wall Street Journal said the gold-colored back cover on the S5 looked like a band-aid.

What do you think? Is the Galaxy S series' design getting a bit stale?

Source: Reuters

 

[johnomaz]

It was a bit stale with the S4/Note3 line. Apple gets away with it because their fans are sheeple. Samsung is trying to get away with it because they have a huge marketshare. If you've never held an HTC One, go hold one and I bet you won't buy another Samsung device after. It feels simply amazing and works as good as it looks.

 

[jspradling7]

Yeah, it feels stale now. I do like a lot of things about their design. The way they make the front allows for a large screen area and I like Amoled. I like the replaceable battery and sd card slot. I like S-Health and the temp humidity sensors. But, I do not like that they made it bigger. There is already a Note line that looks just like it. Keep the S line smaller. I don't need fingerprint scanners, Knox, or waterproofing. My MDK S4 was a better phone. And TW just needs to be dumped. I recently returned my S4 to stock and put it in the company pool and I'm putting the S5 in the pool tomorrow. I'll keep the M8 and the Moto X.

 

[Rhino94]

It was a bit stale with the S4/Note3 line. Apple gets away with it because their fans are sheeple. Samsung is trying to get away with it because they have a huge marketshare. If you've never held an HTC One, go hold one and I bet you won't buy another Samsung device after. It feels simply amazing and works as good as it looks.

I agree HTC and LG both make great devices. LG doesnt make the best looking devices but they make some great functional devices that have many customizable options that are really nice and HTC does basically the same thing.

 

[GAstorino]

I agree with comments about all of these phones. When you come out yearly with your new flagship ie Apple or Samsung don't have just minor increments, example .50 mh faster, 1 gb more ram, no change in storage, more colors, up phone 3 more mega pixels, etc so you can sell next incremental adjustment 4 months later. Come on. Blow us out of the water the first time and then sell that 1 phone all year. Cut back also on the amount of items you sell. And Samsung Apple does good because basically they sell 1 phone and not 80 different variations of devices that eat up each others sales. Why with memory so cheap that you can't get a 10 gb of ram and a 128 gb storage system with sd card slot. Why can't we get good speakers on a Samsung device, why keep uping the megapixels on the cameras. Give me a fast one with auto focus and good lighting abilities. The more megapixels are only really good if you want your pictures 10' x 20'. Most people only do max 8 1/2 x 11 and most of the time probably don't even print them. Just waste space and you can barely even send them because files are so huge you always have to compress and shrink anyway to get on displays, Facebook, etc.

 

[cereal killer]

Never have cared for Samsungs styling. I waited and waited for the unveiling of their Nexus on Verizon's network and when it was revealed I immediately bought the Droid RAZR. Not a fan of their designs/hardware at all.

 

[biglilome]

samsung could've done better. -_-

 

[johnomaz]

Yeah, it feels stale now. I do like a lot of things about their design. The way they make the front allows for a large screen area and I like Amoled. I like the replaceable battery and sd card slot. I like S-Health and the temp humidity sensors. But, I do not like that they made it bigger. There is already a Note line that looks just like it. Keep the S line smaller. I don't need fingerprint scanners, Knox, or waterproofing. My MDK S4 was a better phone. And TW just needs to be dumped. I recently returned my S4 to stock and put it in the company pool and I'm putting the S5 in the pool tomorrow. I'll keep the M8 and the Moto X.

I'm trying to get my department to get new phones for all of us and I'm pushing the MotoX big time. We're the f*****g IT department but we have 10 year old flip phones. They are worried about data plans so I told them to just but the phones and put the existing SIM cards in them. Screw data plans, we'll have wifi at all school sites for 100% coverage within a year. They got that "I never thought of that" look on their face so it may happen sooner now.

 

[KaChow]

I think Chang spent a little too much time on the golf course... :biggrin:

 

[Jeffrey]

Sounds like sour grapes to me. Everyone knew about the design prior to the phones release. In addition, how many execs had to sign off on it prior to the phone hitting the streets. Typical corporate CYA.

 

[bigdad63]

How about the idiocy of having the main speaker on the back of the phone as well? I've already told Samsung that they need to move the back speaker into the place of the current front speaker. They would save money and space by not having a back speaker and they would finally have the friggin speaker in the right place. The only other significant thing they would have to do is a software tweak so that phone calls don't come on at music volumes.

 

[loki993]

Same here..the Samsung is just not compelling anymore...with the HTC One, Iphone and the Lumia Icon all sporting much nicer designs.....the Samsung just lags behind....

 

[KaChow]

I wonder if they will redesign the S5 mini prior to launching it.

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