Compared to the Galaxy S9 last year, Samsung sold 16-percent more units of the Samsung Galaxy S10-branded handsets in its first week of sales in the United States, according to the market research firm Counterpoint Research.
Counterpoint Research attributes the increase in Samsung’s flagship device sales to the Galaxy S10e, the cheapest device in the premium smartphone lineup of the South Korean tech giant. Initially, there are concerns that the launch of the Galaxy S10e may result in the cannibalization of sales from the more expensive Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10+, which means that users will merely shift from buying Samsung’s pricier devices towards purchasing the cheaper variant.
However, based on the monitoring of device sales, fears regarding the shift to the cheaper handset did not materialize. Instead, the Galaxy S10e was instrumental in boosting the sales of the Galaxy S10 handsets in the United States. The Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10+ had similar sales numbers compared to the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+, with the larger Galaxy S10+ responsible for more than 50% of the sales of Samsung’s flagship lineup in the US this year.
The market research firm noted that even though the Galaxy S10e sold the least number of devices in Samsung’s premium device series, the sales numbers of the Galaxy S10e is mainly responsible for the increase in flagship smartphone sales of the South Korean tech giant.
This latest market analysis from Counterpoint Research adds to the growing list of reports highlighting the impressive sales performance of the Galaxy S10 lineup. Recent reports show that in China, Samsung’s latest flagships performed a lot better than the Galaxy S9 series, while in its home market of South Korea, the handset maker managed to push more than 180,000 Galaxy S10 units in its first day of pre-orders, which translates to a 20-percent improvement over the Galaxy S9 sales figures.
Despite these encouraging numbers, industry sources predict that the Galaxy S10 will only sell slightly better compared to the Galaxy S9 in the first half of the year, with insiders estimating that there will be around 800,000 more units of the Galaxy S10 sold. For the entire year, Counterpoint Research predicts that Samsung will sell 40 million units of the Galaxy S10.
Industry insiders previously attributed the boost in Galaxy S10’s sales to its unique design and hardware features. However, this recent market research shows that a significant contributing factor for the success of the Galaxy S10 in terms of the number of devices sold is the segmentation strategy that Samsung Electronics recently employed for its mobile products. By releasing multiple variants of the Galaxy S10 at different price points, the South Korean smartphone manufacturer managed to target various segments of the handset market.
Given the success of its latest device strategy, the South Korean tech giant seeks to employ the same setup for the upcoming Galaxy Note10. A recent leak already revealed the model numbers of the Galaxy Note 10, while another report from South Korea claims that the handset maker may launch as much as four models of the Galaxy Note10.