2014 has been the year of refinement, with devices launching with updates, rather than completely new designs and features and while that’s actually pretty great when you think about it, it’s clearly not doing Samsung much good. After suffering an almost 25% drop in profits during Q2 2014 compared to the same time period last year, it’s clear that something needs to change, in an industry that’s competitive enough, filled with slabs that all function much the same it’s hard to keep on experiencing the type of growth Samsung experienced last year and the year before. Let’s just satisfy the Samsung lovers right away; nobody is saying Samsung is ‘dying’ or that ‘Samsung is dead’. Far from it, in fact Samsung is one of the few Android manufacturers that manage to stay on top consistently however, it’s obvious that interest isn’t quite what it once was.
I’ll be straight up and honest about this; I’m not a big Samsung fan, and you know why? Because Samsung devices just don’t inspire me, it’s a matter of personal preference, but I wouldn’t ever say Samsung devices aren’t worth their place in the market. One thing I think Samsung does better than anyone else out there, is to make big phones make sense. It’s pretty simple for a manufacturer to put out a big phone, it’s a whole lot harder to make it more than just a bigger phone. Samsung has done that time and time again with the Galaxy Note line and as someone who needs to physically write everything down to remember it, the S-Pen is like a siren calling me over to the Galaxy Note. I never make the jump though, because when you really boil it down to the essentials, the Galaxy Note 4 (while a bigger improvement over the Note 3 than anyone makes out) is a big screen with a pretty powerful stylus. Samsung have the potential to make the Galaxy Note so much more than that, though,
The Galaxy Note Edge was announced at the same time as the Galaxy Note 4, and instead of Samsung showing off their latest device as a new product line or something entirely new, they sold the Edge out. Instead of it being treated as the beginning of something new, fresh, and exciting Samsung made it another Galaxy Note 4 with an extra bit on the side to it. Samsung is a goliath that produces whatever you want them to basically, and over the past couple of years they’ve made leaps and bounds when it comes to flexible OLED displays, and while the Edge isn’t anything too amazing, it sure looks cool. It’s different. Which is exactly what we’re in short supply of these days.
If Samsung launched the Note Edge all over the world, and pushed it as more than just an offshoot of the Galaxy Note line then people would have a reason to excitedly talk about Samsung again, instead of yet another ad poking fun at Apple. Flexible displays and thinking way outside of the box (something Samsung has proven they’re capable of) is what will get people excited about what Samsung have to offer, rather than just mildly impressed. Samsung needs to offer more of the Galaxy Note Edge, Samsung needs to get people excited like they were excited for the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy S III and next year will, hopefully, be the year we see something fresh and different from a company that is more than capable of offering just that.