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On March 2 (local time), Shin Jong-kyun, president of the IT & Mobile Communications (IM) Division at Samsung Electronics, said at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, “After we have unpacked the Galaxy S6, pre-orders are rushing in for the product. We are expecting that its sales will be much higher than the S5.”
About 1.2 million units of the Galaxy S5, the previous model of Samsung Electronics, were sold for three months after the release. Its figure was 25 percent lower than the sales of the Galaxy S4, which sold 1.6 million units. With that poor record, Samsung Electronics’ performance took a direct hit.
Shin said, “After the unpacking, pre-orders for the Galaxy S6 are pouring in, and our clients’ response to the product is also very good. The products will be sold in more countries than before.”
Immediately after Samsung Electronics unveiled the product, its shares went up 4.86 percent and closed at 1.423 million won (US$1296.23). Regarding this, Shin said, “Even though we only unpacked the product, the share price rose this much. So, I think that its price will increase even further in the future.”
In particular, he forecast that low profitability compared to sales, which is considered the weakness of Samsung Electronics, will also considerably improve.
Shin explained, “It is true that the share of profits compared to the share of quantities is low. When the Galaxy S6 is released, the market share based on profits will significantly improve.”
He also said, “Even though the competition in the global smartphone market is growing fiercer and new players are continuously emerging, the whole smartphone market grew 30 percent last year. The opportunities based on the high-end market are still endless.”
Shin mentioned about a will to innovate wearable devices. Samsung Electronics did not show any wearable devices at the MWC 2015, as part of a strategy to focus more on the Galaxy S6.
He said, “Through the Gear, we played a role as a pioneer of wearable devices. We are preparing for a new superior wearable device, so please expect to see it.”