Call it Korean pride or Samsung pride, but they get very defensive about the sales figures of their new flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S5 – so much so, that the Samsung Mobile Chief, J.K. Shin, made another announcement and clarified that it is not units shipped, but ones that were actually sold. Shin said that the Galaxy S5 is outselling last year’s Galaxy S4 by 10-percent and that 11 million units of the new flagship have been sold since its launch on April 11. After the first quarter decline of mobile sales profits in three years, Shin insisted that the strong sales of the Galaxy S5 should lead to increased profits and an increase in their market share for the current quarter and said: “It’s been a month since we began selling the S5, and out of the gate, sales are much stronger than the Galaxy S4.”
Like a good cheerleader, Shin is shaking his pom-poms in hopes that we do not see what is going on in the field of battle. Samsung may have not pushed the ‘panic button’ on the Galaxy S5, but it looks like they are ready to make a few necessary changes in order to boost sales and compete better with the upcoming competition – the LG G3, scheduled to be released very soon. The Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime is rumored to sport a QHD 2560 x 1440 display, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, along with a possible glass and metal body.
Samsung recently removed Chang Doon-hoon as head of their mobile design, but whether it was because of the continued use of plastic on the Galaxy S5 or Samsung just needing a scapegoat for their decline in market share during the first quarter…we will never know. Samsung has made it quite clear that the supply chains for the QHD display and using a metal body were just not available for a device that they hoped to sell 50 million units…so my bet is that Chang was used as a scapegoat, because someone has to be blamed for a solid, but uninspiring Galaxy S5.
Shin made a statement that says it all: “It may not have eye-popping technology but the features are practical.” If Samsung really expected spectacular sales for the Galaxy S5, then it had to be more than simply “practical.” Techno geeks expect the “eye-popping technology” in every new model…and yes, we would like a little more “style” too, please.
Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know how you feel about the new Galaxy S5 and the idea of a new Prime version…as always, we would love to hear from you.