Korean tech giant Samsung (SSNLF, Financial) knows well how to entice customers and keep its market share at a stable level even while the competition in the high-end smartphone segment is looming large. It seems that the high-end mobile maker has already learnt a lesson from the failure of the Galaxy S5 Series which happened to be a flop worldwide because of traditional features which were not competent with Apple’s (AAPL, Financial) existing iPhone 5 in the market. But this time at the Mobile World Congress held at Barcelona, Samsung took the wraps off its newest model – Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge which are expected to be released worldwide on April 10. And the features shared do look unique and competent to Apple’s iPhone 6 series.
With the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge release, Samsung might enter into a tussle once again with Apple. While that is a vital part of the story when we speak on Samsung’s high-end smartphones, the other aspect that got shared during the Barcelona event by Samsung’s management was that “pre-orders of the two Galaxy variants from our major clients are really huge.” Let’s dig in further to find out how such a huge count of pre-orders could ultimately aid in improving the sales potential for Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge after their formal release.
Ultimate fortune linked to pre-orders
Investors of Samsung are waiting for the final release of these two new flagship models to find out how they perform in the market and whether they are able to pull back profits for the company since the tech giant has already witnessed a drop of profits by 60% in the past year. In such a scenario where financial crisis is about to strike the Korean smartphone maker, creating a new record on pre-orders of the latest models is obviously a positive signal for the company’s topline growth.
It has been confirmed by news sources that Samsung has already bagged 20 million pre-orders for Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge combined, of which about 15 million units are for the flagship Galaxy S6 model. The best part about such pre-orders of Samsung is that unlike its chief contender Apple which saw large number of iPhone pre-orders from customers, the former is flooded with pre-orders from companies who are eager to get these two Samsung models to sell to the retail customers at the retail stores.
Such a positive response felt in the market for the new Galaxy models does reflect the favorable sentiment prevailing among retail companies about the consumer demand for Samsung’s flagship models. The Korean management has also shared that the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge would be made of metal and glass and not of plastic thereby offering a toughened look to these models and bringing them at par with the look of Apple’s latest iPhone models. And such huge set of pre-orders from companies might also set the final stage for such models to be sold like hot pancakes after the market release.
To compete with Apple, both these smartphones will have a 5.1-inch 2K screen with Exynos processors and a 16-MP camera. The memory space has also been modified in the latest models and would be available with 32GB, 64GB or 128GB internal storage options. Both these models are being powered by the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system.
What are the analysts’ take
An analyst at Citibank, Henry H Kim, has revised his shipment estimates for Galaxy S6 for the year, soon after the news of the pre-order count got final confirmation. He had earlier expected Galaxy S6 yearly shipments to be in the tune of 38 million units, but now he has taken a much confident stand and is expecting the Galaxy S6 shipments to reach about 46 million units by the end of the year.
Kim believes that such a demand created for Galaxy S6 series will also pull up sales of Samsung mobiles in the lower-priced segments. He further added, “Success of GS6 will have positive chain impacts on the mid- to low-end market leadership and in-house component businesses (overall DRAM/NAND memory with content growth, mobile AP LSI and AMOLED display panel)…”
Last word
Samsung’s flagship models will possibly help the company to revive its falling sales to a considerable extent, and that is reflected in the pre-orders that have been bagged before the release of these two models on April 10. But a lot more will be witnessed after the final release, and it remains to be seen whether these Samsung models are able to break Apple’s shipment record of 74.5 million units for iPhone 6 in the first quarter of its launch. So, let’s stay tuned and keep a close watch on Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge performance after they finally hit the market.
