Samsung tries to up the game in low-end smartphones
While Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is well-known for its flagship Galaxy S series in the US, the company has a number of other smartphone lines that are especially designed for other markets. These phones, particularly those sold in China, tend to be mid-priced to low-end, as opposed to the high-end feature set and pricing of the Galaxy and Note lines. China abounds with smartphone manufacturers that offer customers a subset of high-end features at considerably lower prices, with Xiaomi (pvt), originally starting the trend, and now followed by Oppo (pvt) and Vivo (pvt) among others. In order to maintain share in these markets, Samsung Electronics had to develop specialized product (J, A and C lines) that could compete with those Chinese buyers who were interested in a smartphone, but were not interested in paying for a full featured Galaxy model.
Samsung remained iffy about some of its previous models, with limited availability of the ‘Pro’ models of these phones, and looked like they were just interested in holding share with ‘me too’ products that offset the slew of new Chinese models that continue to squeeze ASPs. That said, we hear that Samsung is working on the next generation ‘C10’ smartphone and is looking to up their game a bit. Expectations for the C10 are for a dual camera, which has propelled the few Chinese brands (Huawei (pvt), Vivo, iPhone 7+) that include such a feature into the top share categories, and while the actual specs of the C10 series have not been released, we hear fingerprint scanner, Bixby, Qualcomm (QCOM) Snapdragon 660 processor, and bigger battery are being considered to try to beat what is already in the field from competitors.
The real question will be pricing, and availability, as the C9 Pro was in short supply in the Chinese market, but we doubt Samsung will price ay lower than other premium brands. In such a case, the C series phone will have to be loaded with enough features that it can outperform almost all of its competitors. Not an easy task on a limited budget, especially since the S8 relies on high cost components that Samsung uses to make sure it does not have another product meltdown like the Note 7. We would expect a new C line product by October of this year.
Samsung remained iffy about some of its previous models, with limited availability of the ‘Pro’ models of these phones, and looked like they were just interested in holding share with ‘me too’ products that offset the slew of new Chinese models that continue to squeeze ASPs. That said, we hear that Samsung is working on the next generation ‘C10’ smartphone and is looking to up their game a bit. Expectations for the C10 are for a dual camera, which has propelled the few Chinese brands (Huawei (pvt), Vivo, iPhone 7+) that include such a feature into the top share categories, and while the actual specs of the C10 series have not been released, we hear fingerprint scanner, Bixby, Qualcomm (QCOM) Snapdragon 660 processor, and bigger battery are being considered to try to beat what is already in the field from competitors.
The real question will be pricing, and availability, as the C9 Pro was in short supply in the Chinese market, but we doubt Samsung will price ay lower than other premium brands. In such a case, the C series phone will have to be loaded with enough features that it can outperform almost all of its competitors. Not an easy task on a limited budget, especially since the S8 relies on high cost components that Samsung uses to make sure it does not have another product meltdown like the Note 7. We would expect a new C line product by October of this year.
'Leaked' Samsung Galaxy G10 - Source: BusinessKorea.com
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