Samsung Electronics appear to have a problem. Three days after senior executives at their results briefing claimed the market for smartphones is falling, the head of their mobile division is now claiming he can “achieve double-digit growth” in the smartphone market with their new Galaxy S23 range.
Yesterday, Samsung’s Global mobile head Roh Tae-moon claimed at the global launch of three new Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphones that he is counting on demand for its premium smartphone devices to lift sales, with a forecast of 10 per cent growth in demand for their premium S23 models.
Three days earlier, the South Korean Company was claiming demand for mobile devices was shrinking. The comments came after the business detailed its biggest profit drop in more than a decade, claiming, “The business environment deteriorated significantly,” in the last quarter of the year.
The conflicting comments were made in an environment where Samsung is trying to work out how to deliver growth after their least profitable quarter in eight years, claims Reuters.
Operating profit fell by more than two-thirds compared to the same period the previous year, down from $10.9 billion to $3.4 billion.
At a press conference held at the Chase Centre in San Francisco, following the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event, Roh claimed that he believes he can grow Samsung’s share of the mobile market despite competition from the likes of Motorola, who have delivered more than 45 per cent growth by stripping share away from the likes of Samsung and Chinese brands such as Oppo.
“We expect this year’s annual sales of both the Galaxy S and foldable line-ups to grow globally by double digits compared to last year,” Roh said. “Despite the unfavourable economic conditions, our premium strategies will help us lead the market.”
His claims were made as IDC announced that worldwide smartphone shipments declined 18.3 per cent year over the past year to 300.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22), according to preliminary data from the US research Companies Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker research.
Samsung was among the losers.
The company’s mobile experience business saw a decrease in its profit-earned in 2022 due to reduced smartphone shipments.
The poor performance was contrary to its smartphone shipment record in 2022. Samsung kept its No.1 position among the top-five vendors around the world, claiming a 22 per cent market share with 257.9 million shipments, Canalys data reveals.
Apple came second, with shipments of 232.2 million and a 19 per cent market share, despite ending 2022 with their first-ever double-digit decline for the period.
Samsung locally is punting that the new Galaxy S series will bring a turnaround in performance.
Roh Tae-moon claims he is hoping the new Samsung Galaxy S23 models will deliver 10 per cent sales growth.
Given that the sales of the previous Galaxy S22 series are thought to be around 24 million units, the S23 series has to sell more than 26 million units to achieve this target.
Samsung Australia does not release market share figures.
Roh said “Google, which pre-optimised the latest Galaxy S series with us, has evaluated the new smartphone series as the most complete one ever.”
In Australia, consumers are paying more for a new Galaxy S23, while in the US, where Samsung are desperate to hold on to share, the price of the new models is the same as the old S22 model.
At their Unpacked event, Samsung announced its collaboration with Qualcomm and Google to build an ecosystem for extended reality.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Google’s Senior Vice President Android Hiroshi Lockheimer appeared onstage alongside Roh to announce the news.
They did not unveil any specific products under development, or a timeline for them, but industry officials suggest Samsung might develop XR headsets built on Qualcomm’s chipset and Google’s operating system.
Samsung also failed to announce any information on a potential satellite feature for their premium smartphones.
When Qualcomm announced its Snapdragon Satellite tech that lets Android phone-makers compete with Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite, many were tipping an announcement from Samsung.
In one interview in San Francisco, Roh, when asked about the lack of satellite technology, said. “When there is the right timing, infrastructure and the technology [is] ready, then of course for Samsung Galaxy, for our mobile division, we would also actively consider adopting this feature as well.”
The Verge responded to this, claiming, “‘I’m sorry, what universe am I in? Samsung, which has a storied history of cramming its phones full of features as soon as possible, is saying, “We’ll wait until the tech is ready,’ while iPhone users are already using it.”
Qualcomm’s tech will use the Iridium satellite network, while Apple’s partnered with Globalstar.
Roh continued, saying he doesn’t believe being able to message via satellites “is the end-all or be-all of the solutions to ensure peace of mind among users.”
On the issue of Virtual headsets, where Samsung has already dabbled and failed, he said, “We will transform the future of the mobile industry by building the XR ecosystem together with Qualcomm and Google.”
He later claimed Samsung will lead a “new paradigm shift” in XR-based experience sharing through the trilateral partnership.
