Galaxy S5 sold 40 percent fewer units than Samsung predicted: WSJ


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Galaxy S5 sold 40 percent fewer units than Samsung predicted: WSJ

Phones said to "pile up in warehouses"

 

A report in The Wall Street Journal claims that Samsung's Galaxy S5 flagship phone has performed below expectations. The S5 is said to have sold 12 million units in its first three months on sale; roughly 4 million fewer than its predecessor and overall around 40 percent fewer than projected. Sales were said to be down over 50 percent in China, with the US the only major market where sales actually increased. The US is, however, Samsung's biggest market.

 

Samsung reportedly overestimated how much stock would be needed, leading to an increased advertising spend to get rid of units that were "piling up in warehouses."  Last month the company promised to "fundamentally reform" its smartphone portfolio after reporting plummeting profits and revenue.

 

The Journal also cites sources that believe Samsung is considering making some changes at the executive level ? with mobile chief co-CEO JK Shin possibly ceding his role to fellow co-CEO in charge of TVs and appliances ? but these rumors are cagier and the plans are said to be far from final.

 

Any management shakeup would come as Samsung faces frenzied speculation over the company's top level of leadership. Chairman Lee Kun-hee, the man who orchestrated Samsung's meteoric rise in the '90s and beyond, has been seriously ill after suffering a heart attack in May and, while his son Jay Y. Lee is considered near-certain to take over the role at some point, the company has been silent on any succession plan.

 

A Samsung spokesperson said "We don't comment on rumors and speculation" when contacted by The Verge.

 

Source: The Verge

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Not only that. People also realised that there are better Android phones than the Samsung Galaxy series available.

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Moved plenty of them in my store, more than anything else. I wish there was a Google Play editions bough as its a great phone but I hate Touchwiz

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Samsung should have held off and shipped the LTE-A edition as the standard. Imported one myself. Snapdragon 805/3GB RAM and the same WQHD screen as the Note 4.

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Not only that. People also realised that there are better Android phones than the Samsung Galaxy series available.

That and people don't need high end phones when all they offer is a slightly higher resolution display, a slightly faster CPU and a slightly faster GPU. In terms of style Samsung really hasn't done anything different in a while and people want something they can show off; Apple has the same problem, with people starting to get bored of how iPhones all look the same. For all the faults with the Lumia range they're very stylish phones and they certainly stand out.

 

It's no surprise that Samsung is apparently planning something radical for their next flagship.

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That and people don't need high end phones when all they offer is a slightly higher resolution display, a slightly faster CPU and a slightly faster GPU. In terms of style Samsung really hasn't done anything different in a while and people want something they can show off; Apple has the same problem, with people starting to get bored of how iPhones all look the same. For all the faults with the Lumia range they're very stylish phones and they certainly stand out.

 

It's no surprise that Samsung is apparently planning something radical for their next flagship.

The emphasised part is another reason, true. Phones like the Moto G more than good enough for most users while costing a third of a flagship phone.

 

Apple on the other hand are about the only company which can still sell record numbers of flagship phones. The iPhone 6 was tempting enough to make me switch for one.

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That and people don't need high end phones when all they offer is a slightly higher resolution display, a slightly faster CPU and a slightly faster GPU. In terms of style Samsung really hasn't done anything different in a while and people want something they can show off; Apple has the same problem, with people starting to get bored of how iPhones all look the same. For all the faults with the Lumia range they're very stylish phones and they certainly stand out.

 

It's no surprise that Samsung is apparently planning something radical for their next flagship.

 

pretty much this. In this age people are starting to realize they can buy better phones with zero (or almost zero) lag for a fraction of the price of a Samsung. My Moto G (2nd Gen) is great and although it doesn't has the S5 hardware, it's more then enough for most people and one can have a great experience with zero lag.

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I have one and it's been great so far, but when they first came out I heard a lot of people say there was not a big enough change from the S4 to the S5 to justify upgrading at the time. (I had a old Motorola I switched from)

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Good, this will force them to innovate, they are heading in the right steps (the alpha phones), but christ, touchwiz is a resource hog and unproductive at best! On a design level the s5 is such a regression in terms of bezel screen to ratio vs the s4. etc. 

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That and people don't need high end phones when all they offer is a slightly higher resolution display, a slightly faster CPU and a slightly faster GPU. In terms of style Samsung really hasn't done anything different in a while and people want something they can show off; Apple has the same problem, with people starting to get bored of how iPhones all look the same. For all the faults with the Lumia range they're very stylish phones and they certainly stand out.

 

It's no surprise that Samsung is apparently planning something radical for their next flagship.

They can redesign everything and anything, but if the icing on the cake is still crap, the whole cake is crap... In this case, touchwiz...

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They can redesign everything and anything, but if the icing on the cake is still crap, the whole cake is crap... In this case, touchwiz...

Android 5.0 changes that anyway.

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Android 5.0 changes that anyway.

Not for samsung it doesn't, look at all the leaked images, you can barely tell the difference between kitkat and lollipop due to all the touchwiz mods

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I'd be more curious to see the selling comparison before and after the iphone 6 launch. I bet the 40% is because of people waiting to see what Apple was going to do with the iphone 6

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I think it's going to become very tough for Samsung, or any other manufacturer, to price their high end phones near what Apple prices iPhones.  Samsung definitely lost sales in the high end and the low end is being squeezed by all other manufacturers, specially in China.

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Cell phones tech/ability has plateaued. Like others and I have said before in numerous threads prior, there is simply not enough reason to upgrade a high end handset. To make it worse, the low end is almost the same in practical use then the high end ones.. Until the VR/cell phone combo thing kicks off, cell phones have no more reason to be bettered then they already are.

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Not only that. People also realised that there are better Android phones than the Samsung Galaxy series available.

 

Just checked out Spark NZ (Vodafone NZ and Spark NZ are the two major players with 2 Degrees Mobile in third place) and they're already knocking off 20% from their Samsung Galaxy S5 price where as the iPhone price never changes yet they're regularly sold out of their iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. At this point HTC, Motorola and the Nexus range tend to be the only ones 'getting it' when compared to Samsung who may have the hardware specifications but when it comes to software they really royally suck - whether it is their butchered Android implementation or their horrid Kies experience (on both Windows and Mac - and don't suggest 'streaming music' as a work around for crappy software).

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Perhaps things like the wireless charger should have been "standard" features, not an additional cost.

 

They also took a step backwards removing the thermometer (and who knows what else) from the S5.

 

And can someone explain why the Samsung S5, if not bought in Australia, won't work with Westpac's "tap and go" application?

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