Now that the Galaxy S5 has launched all over the world, it’s time for Samsung to ramp up their marketing into full gear and get things moving full steam ahead. Speaking to the business press is of course one of those things, and Reuters has had chance to speak to a top executive at Samsung, and he had some interesting things to say about the Galaxy S5 and some of the plans for Samsung throughout 2014. Speaking with Reuters, Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung’s product strategy team talks about the Galaxy S5 and a possible launch of a Tizen phone in Q2 of this year.
Speaking of the Galaxy S5, Han-Kil says “S5 sales should be much better than the S4″ detailing that the Galaxy S5 ” is selling faster than the S4 so far, though it’s difficult to share specific numbers as we’re still at early stages.” With a lot of people in the West locked into to two year contracts with the Galaxy S III or something similar, the Galaxy S5 poses a massive upgrade and we’re feeling that’s where a lot of the Galaxy S5 sales will be coming from. Han-Kil also said that the device’s software had been cut down a lot from previous years, telling Reuters that 40 apps were sent pre-installed to carriers, whereas last year’s Galaxy S4 shipped with more than 50. While the look and feel of TouchWiz may have changed a little, many early reviews have said that the software still feels clunky and overwrought, but we will of course find this out for ourselves soon enough.
Looking forward, Samsung seems to have plans to finally roll out a Tizen-powered smartphone in Q2 of this year, which could make for a release in the next couple of months. Han-Kil said that rather launch a Tizen phone with carriers, which has failed in the past, Samsung “will release the phones in a few countries where we can do well.” As well as Tizen-powered smartphone for later this year, Samsung is going to release an Android Wear device, which will no doubt be released in order to compete with the likes of LG and Motorola, as well as complement their Samsung-only Gear 2 line of devices.