Shin avoids boot: Samsung hangs onto mobile chief despite crappy Galaxy S5 sales Samsung has surprisingly opted to hang onto its current head of mobile JK Shin, despite rumours that he was for the chop after the mobile division underperformed all year. Reports suggested last week that Shin would be ousted in favour of appliances and telly boss BK Yoon because sales of Sammy’s latest flagship, the Galaxy S5 …
Arguably the S5 is the replacement model for S3 users (based on the 2-year contract model). But the S5 did seem to arrive pretty shortly after the S5 because Samsung have been speeding up the development cycle. Maybe people with S2s and S3s decided that a cheaper S4 or S4 mini was a bargain in comparison. If so, Samsung should be looking at keeping up their prices like Apple do.
The lack of sales in China will certainly hurt but the competition there is particularly fierce.
"If so, Samsung should be looking at keeping up their prices like Apple do."
They tried, and that's what hurt the sales. I'm no Apple fan, but I'll happily admit they ream out their chosen niche very effectively, and that it looks like they've monopolised that niche. And that means that other than Apple, no handset maker is going to be able to command unchallenged monopoly margins.
So in this household, when the small home phone fleet were up for renewal a year ago I plumped for a collection of already superseded twice, but still on sale S3's. I'd have much preferred an S4, or even S5, but the best price for an S5 was £14 a month higher than the entirely adequate and discounted S3, and multiplied several times that adds up.
As far as I can see Samsung could have a really successful annuity model, where they offer replacement models at far more competitive prices to (hopefully) loyal customers, who will upgrade to Samsung's latest device as soon as the last contract ends. But in their headless rush to emulate Apple prices and margins they neuter that potential annuity model through the high pricing, and through own goals like force feeding customers Samsung's dreadful bloatware, and rubbish OS updates (admittedly allowing MNOs into the loop make that even worse, but even there is some low hanging fruit for Samsung to grasp, just by offering easier rooting and manufacturer "clean" ROMs).
@ledswinger
we're not really disagreeing. If many did act as you did (and I suggest) then the price premium of the new version is possible too high. This means that either the S5 was too expensive (it probably was) or the discounts on the S4 and S3 were too high.
On the plus side it probably means that S5s will become pretty cheap when they need to shift volume next year.
How about for a flagship.
£20 a month in the first year, then half that for the 2nd year, then half again for the year after etc all run with a SIM only deal.
Currently have the bizarre situation where people count down the months to the end of their contract, so they can snap up whatever looks good and leap back onto another contract.
If they don't want to upgrade immediately, they then have to start negotiating on their contract price, or cough up additional cash every month (now the phone is paid off), until the new shiney model they want comes out.
Another useful thing would be to properly soak up those unwanted by the rich phones. e.g. If somebody wants to go from an S4 to an S5, after the first year they can, but remain on the £20 a month fee. Samsung refurbishes (slap it in a new plastic shell) and then offers it to maybe an S3 user. Dear Mr S3 user, you're paying £5 for a S3 today. We're about to drop the price to £2.50, or you can carry on paying us a fiver a month and we'll give you an S4
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
