Samsung’s 2017 mobile strategy is focused on innovation, the Seoul-based tech giant revealed in its latest earnings report published on Monday. The company said it’s planning to innovate both in terms of hardware and software, and specifically asserted how its future innovations will encompass all tiers of devices. Like most other phone makers, Samsung believes the global phone market will experience a slow growth in 2017 but is still adamant to grow its business as efficiently as possible. The South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer said that new contemporary services will give it the competitive edge it needs to succeed in this increasingly saturated market. The company specifically mentioned artificial intelligence solutions as one of the key growth factors in 2017, which coincides with numerous rumors about Samsung working on an AI assistant called Bixby.
In addition to innovation, Samsung used its latest financial report to reiterate its intent to focus on consumer safety in 2017. This statement is related to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco which reportedly cost the company approximately $6 billion. Despite incurring significant losses due to the Galaxy Note 7 recall, Samsung’s mobile division was still profitable and it’s hoping to improve its performance next year, mostly thanks to the premium phone market. Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus in the first half of the year, followed by the Galaxy Note 8 in fall. All of its upcoming flagship devices should significantly boost its profits, the company said.
Apart from innovative software features, Samsung is looking to differentiate its upcoming premium devices from competing products by adopting a unique design, the firm’s financial report states. The South Korean tech giant is also planning to launch low-end and mid-range devices that boast resistance to both water and dust particles, as well as integrated fingerprint scanners. Services like Samsung Pay and Samsung Cloud will also roll out to more territories over the course of 2017, the company said. In the short-term, Samsung is planning to increase shipments of its mid-range smartphones in Q1 2017 but is expecting to see slightly weaker phone profits as its flagship devices with largest profit margins likely won’t launch until the second quarter of the year.