A new Samsung device with budget-friendly specifications bearing the model number ‘SM-M105F’ has been spotted in Geekbench’s online database. The handset is shown to have achieved a score of 724 on the single-core side and a multi-core score of 3637 with the benchmarking application. Those marks are very similar to smartphones in the lower mid-range and budget end of the Android spectrum — close to the Sony Xperia M5 Dual and Huawei P20 Lite, respectively. RAM for the device is listed at 3GB while the SoC appears to be a Samsung-built Exynos 7870with a base frequency of 1.59GHz. The SM-M105F was running Android 8.1 Oreo at the time of the benchmark and it has been speculated that the device will be available in either 16GB or 32GB variants in terms of storage.
Background: Samsung had been rumored to be consolidating four of its smartphone series, the Galaxy J’, ‘C’, Galaxy ‘ON’, ‘M” brands, under a single designation as the Galaxy M family. The move is intended to make buying a smartphone and differentiating between those an easier task for consumers. That’s as opposed to having multiple phones that vary in name based on carrier, release region, specifications, and special features. The new series would show hierarchy via the numbers associated with a given model. For instance, the newly-spotted handset would likely be designated the Samsung Galaxy M10 and represent the entry level for Samsung’s ‘M’ family. The company’s Galaxy A-series is expected to consolidate using a similar naming convention and still another series, the Samsung Galaxy G line, has been put forward in rumors too. Each of those series would presumably offer a different level of features and functionality as well as internal specifications.
Rumors about that shift in marketing approach been further supported by yet another series of leaks pertaining to Samsung handsets under the model designations SM-M205F and SM-M305F. The first of those is expected to sell as the Samsung Galaxy M20 and the latter as the Samsung Galaxy M30. In a recently leaked benchmark test, the Samsung Galaxy M20 was listed as running Android 8.1 Oreo with hardware built around an apparent Exynos 7885 SoC clocked at 1.59GHz. RAM was shown at 3GB and previous leaks have suggested that either 32GB or 64GB would be available for storage. The purported M30 has not appeared in any benchmarks yet but will reportedly ship with both 64GB and 128GB storage options. Each of the handsets is predicted to ship in a dual-SIM configuration.
Impact: The current level of convolution in the company’s naming conventions is arguably among the top reasons that Samsung is losing market share to competitors. While the company has maintained the top spot globally, reports have indicated that it is steadily losing ground to Huawei and others in the budget and mid-range markets. Reducing the number of variations available to consumers and simplifying things could go a long way toward fixing that. It would make discerning between the devices easier for prospective customers without necessarily removing the range of features and specs that consumers have to choose from.