By 
Samsung, the mobile behemoth, is showing signs of stumbling. Earlier today Samsung announced its earnings for Q2 of 2014. The numbers were so unusual that they issued an explanatory note alongside them. In short, Samsung fell short of their record profits from last year. The decline in Q2 marks the second quarter in a row that Samsung performance has gone down.
Samsung has shared a few reasons why performance is down. They claim demand for their phones in Europe and China is down. China itself has proven to be difficult for Samsung. They also claim “sluggish” sales of tablets, which doesn’t surprise us one bit. Despite the declines Samsung still expects to make $51.5 billion in revenue and $7.1 billion in profit for Q2. Those numbers sound incredible (and they are), but they are significant lower than last year.
The most shocking part of this news is that Q2 of this year included the launch of Samsung’s flagship phone, the GS5. Even the launch of a new Galaxy phone couldn’t save the quarter. Meanwhile, HTC turned a profit in the same quarter for the first time in almost a year. Could the tide be shifting back in HTC’s favor? Has Samsung’s saturation strategy come back to haunt them?
[via WSJ]
They shook the market place with the SGS1, but over time started to release updated versions of the same device.
If they want to survive, they have to bring a radically different design to their next model (and get rid of the bloat).
How different can they get… Their design isn’t terrible, bloat is… What makes them lose money this year is the influx of high quality cheap phones from other OEMS, the influx of beautiful flagship devices, people not buying phones every year, and word of mouth on devices.
To me, the SGS3, 4, and 5 look like iterations of the same model.
That shouldn’t happen as it is less likely to convince a consumer to upgrade.
Still rocking my 1st gen galaxy S phone – it has been real good to me over the years, and while I personally ditched Touchwiz long ago to try out alternatives, I didn’t leave it with hard feelings – The core interface itself is fine, imho, to the point where performance is noticeably affected. If I could get a *free* phone to upgrade today, I would be very happy with a SGS5. If I had to buy an upgrade today with my own money however, the nexus 5 / 1+1 are clearly better alternatives, as I can use the extra ~$300 elsewhere. If the company could cut some of the fat with respect to frequent iterations, stop trying to have a hand in every form factor (including the slow sellers), and narrow their focus into fewer mobile product lines, I’m certain they are capable of succeeding. Hopefully they can redirect some of the savings in focusing their efforts/resources into producing lines that bridge the price point gap while they’re at it!
Flagship phones today are awesome on the whole… Despite what the marketers would have me believe, I for one am less interested in bleeding edge innovation/quirky niche hardware & software features/”specification oneupmanship” and more interested in solid quality at a competitive price point. Unfortunately, engineering a phone to appeal to the likes of my wallet probably isn’t considered as lucrative/easy as targeting the crowds that want to buy a new flagship every few months. I wonder if I’m really in the minority on these fronts however…
Introducting… the Samsung Miserly Miser Phone. $79 off-contract.
(fineprint: it’s a really just a Galaxy S2 recycled into a shiny new case).
I don’t think they need to be “radically” different, but they could at least fix the things that are problematic.
As much as I like my GS4, I would never buy another phone with a hardware home button that I need to root in order to prevent from constantly turning on in my pocket and killing battery life (Gravity Screen works, but is a kludge that gets annoying in other circumstances).
Also, from what I’ve seen, the S5 camera is a step down from the S4 – everyone else is vastly improving cameras, and Samsung couldn’t be bothered.
And then there’s the sound, which doesn’t even come close to HTC.
So while the S5 is a great phone, it’s no flagship.
The camera is one of the areas Samsung did make some improvements.
Everyone else is vastly improving cameras? that’s hilarious.
You don’t know what your talking about.
I think the main problem with Samsung is their design team for the Galaxy series. Although I do think the dimples work ok for tablets, the S5 is just not attractive. It’s not “ugly” per se but defintely not attractive when compared to say lg or sony. Their phones are great and durable it’s the design they really need help with. Lucky for them, most people do not judge a book by it’s cover. Can’t wait for Note 4 tho with the 3 sided display lol.
Their design isn’t bad, the materials are what suck. It’s a shame because the devices internals are what really peak any techies interest. however when other devices like the HTC One and iPhone have all released extremely beautiful metal hardware that have been selling more over the recent months. it leaves the question of “when will samsung do this?” They continue to shove these plastic devices down the consumers throats within less of a year of their last release. Samsung fans have been BEGGING for a metal device for years… but they have yet to react. Releasing the S4 Active in SOME metal was a good start but it flatlined before it ever released. The Note line is surviving stronger then the S series but that too will dwindle if samsung doesn’t switch it up soon. Metal devices, quality build etc. They have mastered beautiful screens now its time to take the beautiful hardware title back.
Do you have a case on your phone? Most people that talk big about material use cases on their phones. Why does that matter? When you use a case the device’s build material argument is mute cause you cannot tell what material it is. I personally prefer Samsung’s plastic. I don’t like to use cases, and when I drop my phone the plastic handle it much better than metal. The iPhone design is nice but durability is a joke. The htc one I dropped one and bent the metal over the power button. I drop my note and I just snap the cover back on and be on my way. The market is flooded with devices. With htc and lg starting to improve their sales it of course will threaten Samsung’s profits. But I still don’t see either of them coming anywhere close to Samsung’s profits.
Shallow hipsters are in love with “premium metal”, even when covered by a case; can’t reason with ’em that plastic’s objectively better.
I think I remember there being rumors that the note 4 is supposed to be a drastic change to their new standard design.
*now standard design.
Sorry, not sure how that happened… The e and the O are nowhere near each other… SwiftKey problems I guess…
I own the gs5 and I LIKE it, I would love it if it was more android and less samsung. The biggest selling feature was a swappable battery, the only must have that I need for a phone and sadly there are no more phones with that feature.
Try LG.
How many LG phones have swappable batteries?
I thought nearly every one of them. At least the new G3 does.
G3 , all their midrange devices and low end ones and that is a lot of phones
The LG G2 does not have a removable battery in the US version but does in the Korean version. I looked it up and the G3 will have a removable battery and a microSD card slot in the US. That is awesome and negates the major advantage Samsung.
That is why I said g3 and all their mid to low range the g2 and gflex are not mid or low tier
Before I got to the bottom of the article I thought to myself, wouldn’t releasing WAY fewer devices help that number. What sense does the galaxy mega make when you release an already huge note line with way better features? Galaxy sS mini’s and actives andmegas. Unecasarry if you ask me. Should be the Note Line, The S line, the note tab line, and the 7 inch tab line. 4 devices and leave it at that. All that extra nonsense is stupid.
It might be unnecessary for you, but there still are markets for those phones. Maybe not in north america, but south, mexico, africa, asia, some parts of europe. I have a friend that just came from India, one of the most important emerging markets, and I can tell you neither the S3, S4 S5 or any Note is what’s hot there. it’s all those smaller phone, or bigger, cheaper phone that have bite
If you want to maximize market share and find which niches are the most popular, then their strategy isn’t really bad. They can cull off lines that aren’t working out pretty much whenever they want if profitability is actually a problem.
but my point is their main devices can cover those niche markets. The active is useless because the biggest thing was it being water resistant well the s5 is as well. The Mega is a huge device, well so is the note and i know the mega is a bit bigger but again unecassary.
Samsung is essentially throwing things at the wall to see what sticks and it can run with the “winners”. In most cases, you could say that anything aside from the s5 and the note are unnecessary, but that doesn’t mean that there might not be successful niches to be had outside of those, even if it’s just the ability to target your marketing better.
s5 active, for instance, can be “all about active lifestyles” in it’s marketing and advertising even if it’s technically really, really close to the stock s5 specs/functionality-wise.
The note has been successful for Samsung, but who’s to say that it’s the sweet-spot size-wise? To explore that, they either just make the note bigger and risk alienating people who like the current size, or add a larger model (the Mega). If the Mega takes off, then they could cull the note if they choose.
With this strategy, they’re not presently as profitable as they could be (though still plenty profitable), but they’re able to find perhaps new profitable areas and prevent competitors from getting entrenched in a new niche that Samsung doesn’t already compete in/dominate. So, they’re trading a degree of present profitability for market share and a degree of protection against being disrupted by the competition.
…and in terms of being disrupted by the competition, this is exactly what Samsung’s strategy has done to make headway against Apple. Apple’s the master of “one device to rule them all” and their weakness was that it turns out that people sometimes have other preferences.
Not surprised at all. When you over saturate the market and fill every void possible just for brand recognition, your sales will decline once people realize you are not the only player in the game, especially when you are not putting out a superior product. Samsung has brought nothing to the table that has impressed me in years other than their great marketing.
“Could the tide be shifting back in HTC’s favor?”
What about LG or Motorola?
Sony? Huawei?
I’m an HTC fanboy, but I don’t kid myself for a moment that LG, Moto, and Sony aren’t also in the wings.
If I don’t like the Nexus 6, I’m actually hoping I like the Z3 Compact or Moto X+ to replace my M7. The One Mini2 would be a step backwards (and not available with US T-Mobile freqs), and the M8 is finally just too big.
HTC are barely making money, they have a long way to go.
LG is moving in on them, look at the top selling phones on Amazon, the G2 is ahead of all the sammy phones. This can only be good for Android because people will have better experiences without that touch wiz crap..
I work for best buy mobile in Vegas and I will say there is no and I mean no slow down at my store for Samsung…it’s almost always a note, galaxy or iPhone people want. Always! Lol
Well if you released a 32 gig version of S5 your sales would have been higher… Why Samsung did your competitor do that and you didn’t?… It quite obvious you didn’t offer more when your competitors did… You can’t get too greedy which is why when you release a phone it needs to compete in every since… Then you release a S5 LTE-A in your own country and don’t release it to the rest of the world and you expect people to want to buy more when you give others more than you give your other customers. I have been standing up for Samsung Devices but after the S5 release failed to meet all my expectations I am looking at LG & HTC… Which means this is why your are loosing money….
I think there are many reasons why this is happening.
1) I think Android itself has peaked. There isn’t much Google is doing with it, other than refinement (which is absolutely needed). The new focus seems to be wearables and Android@home [which I think both of these markets will be a bust for all involved].
2) Smartphone sales themselves have peaked. There isn’t much of a high end market left. The low end market has some potential for growth, but the profits are razor thin. Today’s smartphones are holding up very well over time. There isn’t a need to upgrade every 2 years. My first phone, the Droid X, was barely functional at the 2 year upgrade point. Same with the Droid RAZR at the 1.5 year mark. However, my Note 2 is still functioning fine. This is probably the first phone I won’t upgrade when the time comes, unless the Note 4 or the iPhone 6 really blows me away.
3) Increased competition from Apple. The iPhone 6 looks like it could be a major device to contend with. This is the first time I’ve given serious consideration to leaving Android. I think many are waiting to see what Apple is going to bring.
Android slowed but I definitely wouldn’t say it’s peaked, L looks set to be a major and overdue change, I think we’ll see a new wave of game-changing devices after it launches, with opportunities for new must-have hardware. Same could be said about iPhone 6 and WP9, it’s going to be an explosive 12 months in smartphones like we saw 2-3 years ago.
I disagree with #1. Android hasn’t “peaked”, it continues to evolve with time just like any other (actively developed) OS evolves over time.
You’re right on with #2. The smartphone market is becoming saturated in developed nations and even some developing nations. There’s still room for growth in poorer nations, but as you said that’s low end phones with tiny margins.
#3 remains to be seen. The iPhone 6 hasn’t even been announced yet, so all you have is rumors to go on.
I’m actually thinking that way now. I Jumped to the M8 from the M7, but I don’t really see myself *wanting* the M9. I’m… satisfied.
#teamhtc
Let’s get some perspective here… Samsung didn’t meet profit expectations, but still had massive profits. HTC simply went from red to black for one quarter, and the profit they made was 1/10th of Samsung’s “collapsing” profit.
And collapsing? C’mon now, I’m not one to call out an article’s title, but that’s a bit much… More like it’s coming back down to earth as the smartphone industry is over-saturated.
Finally we have someone with an intelligent post! It’s quite refreshing to be honest and very much appreciated!
Let’s see, HTC made a profit of 75 million before taxes so closer to 35 to 40 million in profit. Samsung made over 7 BILLION in profit. Over 200 times what HTC made. The only story here is that not EVERY quarter can be a record breaking quarter for Samsung. They are still making bushels of money. Absolutely no story here.
Samsung can address a lot of the issues fairly easily, they need to start again with touchwiz because it’s not fit for purpose and looks horrible, lose the cheap plastic and replace their design team.
They just need to motivation to make the changes, hopefully this will do it.
But I agree they are no where near collapsing, there are a lot of factors in play here and some of them Samsung can’t do anything about.
Simply put, the S5 sucked and wearables aren’t prime time yet. The S3 was the last truly good Galaxy S. The Note series seems to be taking over as the flagship phone.
The Galaxy S3 sucked, one of their worst devices and I was glad to get rid of it.
I can still remember the retina melting colour saturation, the display looks awful and only a minor performance improvement over the Galaxy S2.
The Galaxy S4 on the other hand provided a huge leap in performance, battery life, camera quality and had a better larger higher resolution display yet it was physically smaller than the Galaxy S3.
Galaxy S5 is a great device, however it has many features users don’t want or need and the increased size and the inclusion of knox is a put off for many,
They lost a lot of people when they released the flagship (galaxy S5) and then announced a galaxy S5 prime with the specs the SHOULD HAVE released with the flagship…I’m just saying. They cut their own profits. I would have been mad as hell if I bought a S5 only to hear about a S5 prime.
I don’t think that had anything to do with it. They release a better version in Korea every year. There was just more rumors it would come to the us this time
Well, I can’t speak for anybody else, but that’s why I didn’t get a S5…I’m sure that I’m not the only one that feels this way…
So you would have imported the GS5 Prime from Korea had you known about it?
And I thought they always did that?
No, but I thought maybe it was a chance that it would be coming here so that influenced my decision a little. But I ended up getting a Nexus 5 anyway and after having it for a while I most likely won’t be going back to a Samsung anything for a while (I had a Note 2 before this). Stock android is just becoming too well rounded and polished for me to wanna use something with a proprietary launcher hindering it. Oh by the way, it’s all just my personal opinion. ✌
Ah!! I was kinda wondering if I should have gotten the M8 or wait to see if a phablet version was going to come out. Glad I did since there doesn’t seem to be one.
I woulda been all over a phablet version of the HTC One M8. That was one of the phones (the HTC One M8 not the rumored phablet version) that was in the running to be my next phone besides the Nexus 5 (which I currently own), and the Samsung galaxy Note 3. I’m glad I got a Nexus, and if they release a 5.5 inch Nexus 6 (rumors at this point) I’m all over it.
Chinese companies are obtaining more and more market share due to the relatively low price of their flagship phones compared to the well known companies such as Apple, Samsung, HTC and Sony. The high-end phones of these companies are about 2x more expensive compared to high-end phones of Chinese companies with the same specs.
Lenovo and Huawei are already quite known to the general public, but Xiaomi, Oppo, Oneplus, Meizu and more Chinese companies also want to obtain market share by selling high-end phones for a relatively low price compared to the well known companies.
I am expecting the Chinese companies (especially Xiaomi, because they are entering the US market next year) will increase their market share in the coming years.
Status will change/updated to collapsed from collapsing when larger screen awesome iphone 6 comes out in September 2014.
6 inch iPhone with that huge button? I think not. And no button would mean a complete UI change to accommodate software buttons.
I had the S3 and S4. When I saw they were not going to change with the S5, I jumped ship and went for the HTC One M8. I love my M8 and am very happy with the change. They need to listen to their customers. The physical home button needs to go too.
Pry the physical home button from my cold, dead hands.
Yes, if there’s an edge-to-edge glass display, I’d be happy.
But the HTC One M8 is no perfection either. They put that giant useless HTC logo instead of capacitive buttons or a larger screen (or make the device shorter). Right now the OSD buttons eat up valuable screen space.
I hate to say it, but Apple is the only driver of hardware innovation in this industry (software is totally Google).
When Apple releases an edge-to-edge display, that will be the new thing, and I’ll be happy.
How much hardware innovation can you really push Plastic, aluminum…steel?(doubt it)…Edge to Edge displays are what we are nearing as it is. The already thin bezels on these devices show it. I dont think they will go with edge to edge because u need a lil’ space between the skin of ur hands or the fingers to prevent the screen from registering as a touch command. Unless they figure some way to set a limit software-wise and set 2-3 millimeters of the edges of the screen as non reseponsive to touch commands…
Why do people keep saying it eats up valuable screen.. How? when you play games or watch movies they are gone and the useless black bar has some hardware in it on HTC devices
I agree, I don’t like the black bar but that’s the only negative for me. There are many negatives with the S5…speaker, Physical Home Button, cartoon software, build quality.
There are plenty non-root apps to force immersive mode in all apps. If the onscreen buttons are in the way, blame the developer for not following the new guidelines they were given.
I remember Super Hexagon was updated to support immersive mode and Google Play Games. I thought that app was forgotten since there hasn’t been an update over a year. LoL!!
Yeah they really need to change it to a capacitive button. I don’t care for the physical button.
Simple, stop releasing 19 different versions of what is already too large a range of phones! Concentrate on selling and making a smaller amount. You already have the market share, Samsung, so stop shooting yourselves in the foot.
Stumbling maybe…but collapsing? Sensational much?
For many people (including myself) the last phone purchase was the S3. I preordered it and got to keep my existing unlimited data plan. My 2 year contract ends on 7/10/14, and if I want to keep my unlimited data I will have to buy a phone without the discount. Here’s my predictions for future market in the next month.
1. There was a ton of people that got the S3 that will be in the market for a new device in the next 10 days.
2. The true hardcore users cell phone lovers are going to have the choice of, m8, gs5, or lg3 or the note 3.
3. A lot of people will be giving up the unlimited data plan and get crushed with new charges. Giving it up for no benefit other than to save 400 bucks up front on a new phone.
4. They could sell that unlimited plan for damn near 500 bucks on eBay, which they will forfeit for nothing in return.
I will be buying the G3 outa pocket for 6 bills. It hurts but there is no way I’m giving up the unlimited data. I use it for a 4 g mobile hotspot for the internet at my house as well and push roughly over 3 to 4 hundred gigs a month. That 117 a month takes care of my phone, internet and cable bill since I just download everything and stream what I want.
I am similar to you In a way as my T-Mobile LTE is powering my house I don’t use as much data as you maybe 90gbs and I DL big files often and such
Internet providers are now capping data, and their prices are getting insane. My 4g mobile hotspot with Verizon gets legit torrent download speeds of 4.1 MB/sec. My speedtest.net speeds average around 35 to 45 MB download and 15 to 20 Upload/sec
My phone gets around that much as well , if internet at decent speeds weren’t so crazy expensive with fees out the yingyang I wouldn’t have to use my phone as a hotspot
400GB on your phone data plan? You’re taking the piss, mate!
For Samsung competition in smartphone is very tight and squeezed from low and upper end by HTC,Sony,LG and bunch of Chinese manufacturers. There is not much to differentiate when all running the same OS. As earlier post said, Sammy needs to focus on fewer phones and make it awesome.
Their design isn’t bad, the materials are what suck. It’s a shame because the devices internals are what really peak any techies interest however other devices like the HTC One and iPhone have all released extremely beautiful metal hardware that have been selling more over the recent months. it leaves the question of “when will samsung do this?” They continue to shove these plastic devices down the consumers throats within less of a year of their last release. Samsung fans have been BEGGING for a metal device for years… but they have yet to react. Releasing the S4 Active in SOME metal was a good start but it flatlined before it ever released. The Note line is surviving stronger then the S series but that too will dwindle if samsung doesn’t switch it up soon. Metal devices, quality build etc. They have mastered beautiful screens now its time to take the beautiful hardware title back.
Who’s begging for metal? Not me. “Premium metal’s” for apple-loving hipster snobs; not real people. Plastic’s objectively better by all measures except “woo… it feeeeels nice and heavy like car or something!”
Bwahahahahahaaa!! I was looking for your comment the moment I read what that dude said.
I don’t know about you but where I come from, gold is a premium metal. Silver is a premium metal. Stainless steel is ok. But aluminum is what I use to wrap leftovers.
Im sure things will pick up once they go to tizen.
HTC might have won back some customers with the inclusion of a SD card slot… But I could be totally wrong here
I know I don’t plan on buying Samsung again. The touchwiz is horrible in my opinion and their hardware is cheap compared to others on the market. If I couldn’t get my nexus phones I’d go with Motorola, LG or HTC
For a powerhouse company like Sammie, profitability is merely a sign of popularity. If sales are shrinking, they’re more afraid of losing market share over anything. They’ll never “die”, really…
I see a lot of reasons this could be happening. For starters I generally upgrade or change my phone with every OTHER Generation. It went S1, S3 and now Note 3. So, for consumers like me, I want to get a little bit out of the phone. Especially when I spend $100+ on cell cases, etc. Thats all wasted when or if I sell the phone. I dont get any of that back.
Other issues I see, Samsung is still too cookie cutter. They shove in new Technology. Buts the same old schtick. Gimmicks like heart rate monitor and fingerprint scanner is just to increase hype. No one will really use it.
Lastly, they have flooded the market with model variations thats worse than looking for a laptop! Since smartphones arent customizable, we have to buy an entire new unit to get that one cool, extra new feature or technology.
They are acting like these things are laptops. OOOOOH, new processor. Lets toss that in and call it a day! New product…seee!!!
Same exact 1.5-to-2-year upgrade path as you — S1 (ATT Captivate), S3 (d2att), Note3 (t-mobile) — and while my S1 was almost worthless when I upgraded to my S3, I was able to sell my S3 for a reasonable price ($400 w/ accessory bundle iirc) since I’d unlocked it (and a Canadian bought it). A used Note3 isn’t currently too far below its $700 intro price on Ebay at around $450-ish in good condition. Seems android’s resale value is catching up to Apple’s a bit.
I think the main reason Samsung isn’t growing as much is simply because the high-end is saturated and locked into contracts or just doesn’t want/need to upgrade as often even if they can, and the low and mid-range phones like the MotoG are good enough.
My next device might be the Note 4 or 5, but I have three main requirements:
1) a phablet-sized SAMOLED display (>= 1080p)
2) sd slot
3) no physical buttons == less bezel
LG G3’s non-samoled display and battery was subpar; Note’s will probably always have buttons (and useless pens, for me), and I can’t stand HTC’s giant bezels or their “premium metal”, so… not sure where my next device is coming from.
I guess now I must buy Note 10.1 2014, to get an upgrade from original one. I don’t see how all of this could lead Samsung to not cancelling that perfect tablet. Bummer.
Ah, to bad only $7.1 billion in profits. Poor people how will they survive?
Last quarter I made only 5.5 billion which is significantly lower than last year and now i have to move to a cheaper trailer park.
Seriously though Sammy needs to step up, but “Collapsing” bah, not likely.
There is a reason I read financial journals for stuff like this instead of “blogger” type journalists. This is purely a sensational article like TMZ. No where in this article does it mention the biggest cause of lower profit from currency fluctuations from a strengthening dollar. It also doesn’t mention that sales decline is limited to low and mid range phones not the note or upper phones.
Calling their headline style TMZ’ish may be a bit harsh (their writers are after all vultures that pick apart rich and powerful people’s lives to make money off of ignorant people while having no regard for journalistic ethic or common sense). The guys writing for Phandroid are not like that at all though the headline is very exaggerated and sensationalised.
Maybe it’s because they can’t release an update that’s not full of bugs. Thankfully I know how to root and custom rom. No way in hell will I ever buy another Samsung.
Over saturation isnt bad if they plan it correctly…first off GS5 and the GS5 Active should have been spec’d out phones with different purposes, different designs, strictly US. U want a waterproof phone u got it in the Active with its metal/plastic ruggedized form 16BG. The plastic version should have been a different design less squarey and more sleek looking Major flagshippy taste with 32 GB 3GB of ram to counter the f’n chuggish moments it can have….leave the LTE-A for where it works in Korea…..NOw you have a rumored Galaxy F which is just beyond odd and is oversaturation at its finest. If the rumors are wrong we may be getting inklings of next years Galaxy Flagship in metal, if they are right and the Galaxy F is this years model with metal, then it may actually be the Note 4 with metal…as far as a sleek look and something radically different i wont count on it, but we can hope. I thought the radical change from the S2 to the S3 was an awesome look. I still say that is the neatest departure from the standard square that Samsung had given us. It was equal to the shock it gave ppl in its beauty to what HTC did with the M8’s design. BUT WE ALL KNOW most ppls S3’s were chuggy messes of software here and there. Now if Samsung can rally a flagship as big as the anouncement for the S3 was, with design, specs, performance and more clean UI and keep most of what the S5 had right then they would be raking in big bucks next year.
Meh, who the hell am I to suggest anything? lol
Edit:
PS: Samsung please leave out the Knox as an option and continue being more developer friendly and allowing roots and S-off(I know its an HTC thing but u get me) more easily
HTC is coming back by using the same formula that Samsung did, focus on 1 thing and make it great. Samsung held onto the 1 thing a bit too long. They have created far too much frustration with Smartphone people. If Samsung would stop making bigger plastic bloated phones that degrade over time every single year, and focus more on form and function, they can dominate again.
Samsung’s biggest rival isn’t other Android phones, so why compete there? It’s Apple and the iPhone. Even Apple changes their overall design every now and again yet maintains it’s uniquely Apple signatures.
Samsung has succeeded in all but removing the Android from Android, and that isn’t a good thing either. It almost seems that Samsung is intentionally duplicating the wheel and making it bigger in the name of function. The answer isn’t who can skin Android more, it should be who can skin it best if it even gets skinned at all.
If they would just embrace what they do well by embracing the features they own over other manufacturers, removable batteries, SD card capability etc. Stop trying to create their own OS on top of Android, stop making phablets, and refresh their design a bit I assure you they’ll attract people back. If they really look into their design and hardware quality, they may even win a lot more iPhone people over.
That said, I’ll never be a Samsung person, been screwed too many times, but I cannot deny that they don’t have a great product line. They just have a crappy way of selling it.
u aint kidding, they claim they listen to their customers, but they obviously are not for the US side. they need to revisit what worked best on the all the iterations of Galaxies from the s3 to s5 and make a mega whopper next year. I think a new way Samsung should engage the customer should be thru websites like Phandroid, Android Central, other heavy tech sites that can get the customers input in an organized way probably thru polls. I can think of some things they can push….
1. Design, even if plastic, needs to be changed and more sleek, more weight balanced. Metal doesnt have to mean a premium, but its nice to see it.
2. Keep the awesome cameras they been pumping, invest a lil more in that. Invest a lil more in optional effects u can do on pics. Improve lowlight.
3. Keep the multi window function
4. Keep the download booster function.
5. Less clutter on the Notifications Panel
6. Go back to a vertical settings menu.
7. Keep SD Card
8. Keep removable battery.
9. Adding a Wacom screen without the S-Pen. Leave it as a seperate item
10. keep the waterproofing..BIG MUST.
……..any one else wanna add to the list. or take away.
I’d remove everything not part of a pure version of Android. Most of what Samsung adds is (IMO) gimmicky and pointless.
I’ll add one, possibly more depending on how many times I revisit this page tonight, and I may be in the minority here but hear me out… Lose the hardware button. It was a necessary feature on earlier iterations of Android OS, once it because significantly less necessary with the advent of software buttons it became a huge benefit/feature. Now, it’s just in the way and mostly relevant to Samsung’s ecosystem only. move it to the side and call it an action button if anything and give the extra real estate to the screen. I guarantee you that you can reduce the size of your phone back to 5.5, (Which I believe is close enough to a sweet spot for most people), reduce the bezel and increase overall interactivity space. People won’t care to notice the difference and you’ve increased usability and returned it to single hand use, and furthermore you can really show off that damn resolution dense screen that’s a Samsung hallmark.
Actually, I’ll add one more. Go bold. Google has taken a huge step by singling out a lot of their OS apps so you can take or leave them in the Play Store. Why cant Samsung do the same thing? If you’re going to preinstall the Samsung App Store anyway, instead of bloating your phone to death, preload Uniquely TouchWiz functionally important items to the phone and make everything else an option. That’s something that NOBODY else does. Suddenly you create more options for the user, maintain customization, and can directly compete with any other OEM offering out there including iOS.
Damn, just evolve Samsung!
You should be ecstatic. I can tell you for a fact that Samsung was able to reduce the size of the S5 to 5.1″ and keep the hardware button. Personally I don’t think that anyone’s “sweet spot” is 5.5″.
Mine is. I was in love with my Note 2. I’m hoping that the rumors of a 5.5 inch Nexus 6 are true cause that will definitely be my next phone if it is.
You’re going to give advice to the #1 manufacturer of Smartphones? With your vast knowledge you should start your own company and make billions!
Many people with iPhones find any device with a 4.5″ or bigger screen ridiculous. They might very well only buy one until an iPhone of that size is released.
I’m a firm believer that generally people buy what they want, not what they need. Apple is great at making people want what Apple tells them they need. It’s called marketing. If 4.5″ works best for iPhone disciples, then so be it…. Although watch how many iPhone people wont complain if and when a larger iPhone is released. Frankly, ANYTHING larger than a handful is worthless. ;-)
HTC is not coming back. They only had a slight profit after firing several executives. The numbers just got moved around. Don’t be silly.
The M8 is a good example of why HTC will never come back. They think that the only thing buyers care about in a phone is that it’s wrapped in aluminum.
HTC what?? LOLOLOL what a joke.
Samsung needs to streamline their portfolio of devices to 1 low tier model, 1 mid tier model, the S series and then Note series. Then tone down their garrish looking ui. Maybe a nice flat look with muted colors and icons that aren’t abrasive to the eye. Finally, slim down touchwiz, optimize it to run as flawless as stock Android and for the love of everything holy, kill the faux chrome bezels and introduce hardware that doesn’t look dated.
Do these things and they would be right back on top.
They are still on top. Oh, and average consumers couldn’t care less about your list.
… But this is not a site for average consumers. Troll…
Now where are all those pro Samsung and anti-HTC people saying how well Samsung is doing over HTC ?? Not here ? not surprising. Maybe its just a slow year for everyone. All smartphones are essentially the same. What Samsung and HTC should focus on is making something extraordinary and different to peak user interest. I have friends still rocking Galaxy S3’s and HTC ONE S’s because theyre waiting for something significantly better. What that is ? who knows. But theres obviously a “been there, done that” in general from smartphones, and gimmicks arent working as well as they used to. Im not upgrading till the M9, and only if its an improvement over the M8.
They still expect to turn a $7.1 billion profit. Much better forecast than HTC could ever hope to imagine.
HTC only had a slight profit after firing several people. Samsung made 7.1 billion in profit. Hush, you fool.
No matter, the Galaxy GS5 still has out sold the wannabees by a very size-able amount. Bottom line here is that the S5 beats the competition in almost all non-biased reviews. It’s a better phone. What part of that do you not understand?
Overly dramatic headline for the article. Have some journalistic sense and make a headline something other than ridiculous.
Phandroid and “journalistic sense” will never happen. This site is in bed with the HTC fanboys. The funny thing is most of the M8 gang don’t even own one. They’ll never part with their Iphone 3g’s.
It probably says that because the author is an HTC lover. The first part of the title is so ridiculous: “Samsung’s Galaxy is Collapsing” Really? Their only the world’s top phone manufacturer. But yeah other than that the company is collapsing.
To see the reason for lackluster “non-Flagship” phone sales, look no further than their own website. I first noticed this problem late last year when I was looking for a small low end phone as a second phone to go with my Note3, and I just rechecked and it’s still true today. Their “Shop Cell Phones” lets you select a carrier and see all the phones offered and compare features. But there are no prices listed and no ability to actually buy the phone. Just a redirect back to the ATT website with limited selection of older or low end phones. Make it easier to buy from your low end offerings and you’ll sell more.
As for their tablet sales, their new Magazine UI was a sales killer for me. I recently decided to replace a laptop with a tablet. Initially I thought the new Note 12″ tablet would be the logical choice since I’ve enjoyed my Note1 and Note3 cell phones. But I really disliked the Magazine UI and the need to keep at least one MagUI screen was a deal killer. I ended up going with a Venue11 instead. The advantage to Android over IOS and Windows is letting the user tailor the experience. Sure, each manufacturer wants to put their spin on it to try to stand out and we all hate non-removable bloatware, but making it impossible to avoid the potentially unwanted new features is only going to hurt your sales.
Up until this year I have updated my phone every 12 months (usually as B’day present) 10 years ago I used to update my computer /TV on a regular basis. Phones have simply caught up with TVs and computers. Originally it went Qualcomm 1-2-3-4 etc now its is Qualcomm 801,803, 805 etc. They change the nomenclature for a reason they realize the visible / perceptible performance is not what it used to be. I love my samsung note 3 and read Engadget every day, however, I still do not desire a new phone that will drive me to shell out $650 just to have a 10% gain in performance. Hopefully the Note 5 will be the dream machine (64bit and optimized accordingly). Of course the note 7 will be just round the corner 2 years later
I’m still using my 32g S3 that I preordered. Still waiting on the next big thing. Tempted to upgrade now in order to use XLTE though.
Only $7 billion in profit. Wish my galaxy would crumble like that!
A few thoughts: I would think others are like me and only get a new phone when needed, rather then wanted (if i had a s2 or s3 i don’t think I’d upgrade till it died). I think samsung’s flagships maybe becoming the iphone of android (if not already), which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. While I really would like to try a galaxy device like the S5, I feel that I should know better then to do so, considering all the video’s about how the device lags even with so much power. Having a stripped down GPE wouldn’t help because I want to be able to use 100% of the devices features, yet, have the proper hardware and software to handle it all without issue.
They copy Apple, and follow apple into the pits. I don’t mean ‘copy’ as in phone design, I mean copy the business model. Try not locking everything down so much. Think of the gear series of watches. They were first to market with what could be a blockbuster device. They had the only device on the market with the (galaxy) Gear 1 worth buying. Sony’s offering was horrible and motos only accomplishment was providing their software team tech to use in the moto x. Their biggest competition was a kick-starter campaign that had production issues, and they couldn’t nail it?! They threw ad dollars at it, and lost, when all they had to do was make it available to all android devices. Then the come out 6 months later to realese 3 great wearables, one of which (gear 2) fixes nearly every complaint users had about the gear 1, other then still no official non samsung support. They have this mentality across the board and its bothersome.
Well what do you expect, since the Galaxy S3 was released the design of the phone really hasn’t changed that much I’m sure Samsung believes that “If it ain’t broken then don’t play around with it. or when your on a good thing stick to it” They need to change the physical style of the next GalaxyS6 for next year. then this will start to show increase in their sales. I have S3, S4 and S5. sometimes I pick up the wrong phone thinking it’s the latest. as you can see by most of the views below, everyone seems to not like the design of the Galaxy as there is not enough difference in previous models.
Well, IMO. Samsung makes some good phones so don’t get me wrong here. But, I feel they could be better. The S3 was a great phone! I wish that I could get my hands on one. The S4 failed in my opinion and the S5 is no better. I see so many who want to root the S5 that it’s not even funny anymore. Samsung bashes Apple openly in there commericials. People don’t care about Apple if they buy Droid. Samsung took a flagship (S3) phone and ruined it. I have seen the S5 in action for myself and it lags more than my Droid Razr M . Explain that to me. Again, S3 is outstanding……..everything after by samsung, fail.
For every sluggish Galaxy phone I have bought (all of them) I have always believed “the next one wouldn’t lag. After the S4 I had enough… Typing this on my new buttery smooth LG G3: adios Samsung… Fool me 5 times, shame on me..
its clearly the result of them half assing on the design front…aside from slight changes to the dimensions the hardware has remained the same…innovation has stagnated on that front…meanwhile htc, lg, and moto…
I can see your argument about the design…but what are you talking about when you say the hardware has remained the same?!?! They improved basically everything over the S4. Better screen tech (currently the champ)*, better camera (currently the champ)^, bigger battery, water resistance, fingerprint scanner, heartrate monitor, USB 3.0, better processor, and it still is the only flagship line (along with the Note) to offer removable batteries AND SD card slot.
What does HTC have? Oh, yeah, Boomsound (pass).
What does LG have? Way more pixels than are necessary, resulting in lower battery life and slower processing with no actual benefit.
I’ll hand it to Moto, they’re exploring what is possible to achieve on a budget, giving you the best value-per-dollar out there.
Because Samsung’s phones are stacked with pointless bloat and look squalid. Go everyone else!