Samsung Counterstroke
Samsung's smartphones falter. Their market share falls not only in emerging markets like China and India, but also in long-established markets like the U.S. and the E.U. The decline threatens even the domestic market, South Korea, where the company can find no safe haven from Apple's encroaching presence.
To raise global market share, Samsung is focusing all of its conglomerate energies on its reveal of the Galaxy S6. Even its latest moves with its low and mid-priced models in India reflect this strategy. The conglomerate's national and international concerns primarily rest on the coming results of these efforts.
Samsung Sunset
The formerly narrow gap between Samsung's and Apple’s share of market revenue has widened. According to Strategy Analytics, a market research firm, Samsung's 4th quarter slice of global smartphone market revenue fell to 17.2 percent. In contrast, Apple posted that its share of global smartphone revenue has risen to 50 percent.
Last year Samsung recorded a 25.1 percent revenue share, far behind Apple’s 37.6 percent, yet still in second place. Samsung Electronics had successfully chased Apple, closing the share gap down to 0.1 percent in 2013 with 34.1 percent. But last year, the 9 percent decrease sent Samsung spiraling down into a crisis.
It must be a shame for the world’s most prolific smartphone manufacturer to share the number one spot in sales with Apple. Ever since the 3rd quarter of 2011, Samsung maintained the top spot in sales, devising a diversified sales strategy to beat out Apple with double the sales amount. But last year, its sales recessed to 74.5 million, equivalent to Apple.
Global Contraction
Especially in China, Samsung's market share has declined steeply. Samsung was the name of the most-wanted electronics in China until Apple took it away from them in the 4th quarter last year. After releasing the iPhone 6 Plus with its large screen, Apple pushed Samsung down to 5th with only a 7.9 percent market share. Apple's market share in China jumped from 5.0 percent to 12.3 percent. China's top mid-priced smartphone company, Xiaomi Corp., stood in 1st place, Huawei took 3rd, and Lenovo Group 4th.
The same thing has happened in the Indian market. India's largest homegrown handset vendor, Micromax, recorded a 22 percent share of the smartphone market in the 4th quarter last year, edging out Samsung Electronics at 20 percent.
Last Bastions
In the Western European market, Samsung Electronics still occupies 1st place. Yet it is still true that the company's market share has started declining. IDC said that Samsung has shipped a total of 51 million units in the Western European market last year, keeping 1st place. However it was 12.5 percent less than 2013’s 58.3 million, resuling in a reduced market share from 42.6 percent to 35 percent. Apple, on the other hand, ranked 2nd with 30.9 million shipments, a 14.9 percent increase from 26.9 million, and possessing a 21.2 percent market share.
Samsung is falling even in the domestic market. Counterpoint Research announced that the market share of Samsung once reached 60 percent, but has fallen to 46 percent. Apple hit 33 percent last November in the home of Samsung, more than double the 15 percent market share that it had before the launch of the newest iPhone.
Counterpoint Mobile Researcher Tom Kang remarked that Korean users have been loyal to the world’s smartphone leader. For the first time ever, a foreign brand has taken 20 percent of the market share in South Korea. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus brought changes undermining tablet competitors.
Galaxy S6, Bigger Screen, Salvation?
Samsung hopes to reverse its decline in leading markets by releasing the Galaxy S6, its most strategic phone, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 held in March. Emerging markets, on the other hand, will focus on increasing market share preceding mid-priced models.
In addition, some expect that Samsung’s next generation smartphone come with an even larger screen to compete against Apple's iPhone 6 Plus.
Phone Arena, a U.S. media site, raised the possibility of a larger screen size than its predecessor, the Galaxy S5 (5.1 inches) on Feb. 24 (local time).
Samsung's Norwegian corporate site posted a slideshow reporting rumors about the Galaxy S6 and hint at possible features. The first slide, posted on Feb. 22, says, “One feature that we might see is forward-facing stero speakers.” A second slide states, “The next Galaxy is expected to be durable.” A third slide reads, “Samsung Galaxy display is supposed to reach onto 3 sides.” The rest of the slides quote less credible rumors. The “enhanced durability” may refer to a metal body, and “reach onto 3 sides” might refer to a wraparound screen that curves around onto both sides of the device like the Galaxy S6 Dual Edge.
Samsung Electronics in Norway also added a new image that hints Galaxy S6 has a bigger screen than the Dual Edge, but nothing can be confirmed. The Galaxy S6 is expected to have a 5 inche screen to keep it distinct from the Galaxy Note 4 with a 5.7 inch screen.
U.S. Launch Expected to be Positive
Samsung is making a winning move with the Galaxy S6 to regain its lost title. The buzz is already very positive. The U.S. mobile communications companies are competing for pre-orders before the reveal.
AT&T, Sprint, and T Mobile announced on their respective websites that they started pre-order services for the Samsung Galaxy S6 on Feb. 23 (local time). These three mobile operators published relevant banner images and started offering service plans.
The U.S. communications companies predicted that Samsung Electronics next smartphone will have a curved display, showing images of the S6 on their websites. Sprint calls the new phone “Six Appeal,” showing an image of a face-down dual-edge screen.
AT&T and T-Mobile also put the same picture on their websites and are already offering pre-orders.
National and international media are expecting the Galaxy S6 to provide two models: a dual-edge flat model a with curved display, and a flat-panel display.
Samsung will unpack the Galaxy S6 on March 1 in Barcelona, Spain. However, it remains unknown whether this effort can grab back the top spot in the smartphone game for the company.