Can Samsung continue to ride the wave of being the up and coming smartphone manufacturer in the long term?
That’s the pertinent question surrounding Thursday’s launch of the Galaxy S4, Ovum principal analyst Tony Cripps said, rather than what specifications the device will boast.
The manufacturer had done a better job of preventing leaks than was often the case, but the question to ask was what the launch would mean for Samsung, Mr Cripps said.
At the time of the Galaxy S3 launch, it was clear that Samsung was beginning to surf a large wave of being the up and coming manufacturer who was about to fulfil their potential, he said. The Galaxy S3 confirmed this and the question now was whether or not it could continue to ride that wave in the long term, Mr Cripps said.
More sales volume than S3
Samsung’s expectation of volume shipments for the S4 would most likely be in line with and exceeding those of the S3 across the lifespan of the device, he said. The S3 hit the 40 million sales mark in January, CNET reported.
But the question really became about whether Samsung could continue this in perpetuity, Mr Cripps said, given that Apple and the iPhone have shown that eventually growth rates slow down, which was to be expected from players at the top of a relatively limited addressable market.
“Once you’ve saturated that market, that opportunity then you start having to look at backfilling into the bigger part of the cheaper end of the market and that I suppose is the longer term challenge that anyone that’s successfully playing at the top end and being dominant there is going to have.”
Samsung had done a good job of maximising its potential at that end of the market, while also selling cheaper Android smartphones, he said, but there was a sense that over time it would end up relying more on the bigger market opportunity that sat behind the flagship devices.
Strongest position to push flagship
Samsung was in the strongest position of Android original equipment manufacturers to push their flagship device as the latest and greatest, with other manufacturers on the back foot a little, Mr Cripps said.
However with expectations growing with every smartphone generation, they would still need to provide an exceptional device. There had been indications from devices launched since the Galaxy S3 that there was a progression in design, such that their brand identity in hardware and the like was becoming more recognisable and perceived as high quality.
“So it’s not really an option to come in with something that’s anything less than a leading edge piece of equipment.”
Differentiate your Android self
It was becoming increasingly difficult for manufacturers to add a level of extra value ontop of Android, Mr Cripps said, and offerings were more tweaking overall user experience than producing anything dramatically different.
Such additions wouldn’t be fundamental to people’s reasons for buying the devices, he said, but were more about making the device stand out as Samsung’s own.
