Consumer Discrimination
This is because even though Samsung Electronics is the number-one company in the world smartphone market, it failed to rank within the top five in the Chinese smartphone market only.
Even though Samsung Electronics ranks first in the world smartphone market, the smartphone giant is outplayed by its competitors in China. These days, Samsung Electronics is paying special attention to the Chinese market. It was known that Samsung Electronics will release the Galaxy Note 7, its strategic smartphone for the second half, with the best specifications only in China after launching the Galaxy C, an exclusive model for China. This move draws a lot of attention since it can cause controversies over consumer discrimination in the market.
According to SamMobile, an exclusive blog for Samsung Electronics, Geekbench and other mobile device performance check programs disclosed the existence of a Galaxy Note 7 with 6GB of RAM and a storage space of 128GB.
“Not 6GB memory but 4GM of RAM in the Galaxy Note 7 disappointed many consumers,” SamMobile said. “Samsung Electronics can ease such criticism by a Galaxy Note 7 which features 6GB of RAM at least in China.
There are complex reasons why it is said that the Galaxy Note 7 with 6GB of RAM will be launched in China only. According to market research firms such as Strategy Analytics, Samsung Electronics is having an uphill battle in the Chinese market. Chinese makers such as Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi pushed down Samsung Electronics below fifth place in the Chinese market.
The Chinese market where Android phones are having fierce competition is a market which Samsung Electronics cannot give up. Under these circumstances, the Galaxy Note 7 with 56B of RAM can be a weapon that can give Samsung Electronics a competitive edge. Moreover, Chinese consumers may view the Galaxy Note 7 with 4G of RAM as unfavorable. Already in China, smartphones with 6GB of RAM were launched one after another. OnePlus’ OnePlus 3, LeEco’s Le Max 2, and Vivo’s Xplay 5 Elite were already loaded with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage spaces. Furthermore, their prices are the half of the Galax Note 7’s.
The Galaxy Note 7 with specifications lower than those of local products may have less appealing marketing power in China where specifications outweighs practical use among customers. This is worrying Samsung Electronics.
On top of that, it is said that Samsung Electronics simplified the Galaxy Note 7’s specifications with 4GB of RAM and a 64GB storage space for its global launch to unify production lines for cost cutting. Therefore, the launch of the special edition for China means that the company gives up part of this strategy.
But some experts say that it is consumer discrimination. “Although the launch of a Galaxy Note 7 with 6GB RAM is not final yet, if the special edition is launched, we are concerned that the launch may damage the value of the Galaxy Note 7 with 4GB of RAM,” Android Authority said.
“As Samsung Electronics launched products with bigger storage spaces in some countries, it is not a surprise. But we did not expect that the Korean IT giant will launch a version with a better performance in a specific nation,” said The Verge, criticizing Samsung Electronics.
Despite such criticism, Samsung Electronics is expected to go ahead with the plan to expand its sales in China. This is because even though Samsung Electronics is the number-one company in the world smartphone market, it failed to rank within the top five in the Chinese smartphone market only.
In Korea, consumers are already grumbling about it. They say that Samsung Electronics are discriminating against consumers based on regions. Many angry messages have been posted on message boards of mobile device internet communities since August 5. Some of the message read “It is nonsense that the special edition of the Galaxy Note 7 has 2GB of RAM more than the normal editions” and “We were caught off guard.”