Samsung Mobile chief steps back to focus on long-term growth

Samsung is not in total danger yet but the South Korean tech giant is already being careful how it’s handling the mobile business. For one, mobile business chief J.K. Shin will be replaced by Dongjin Koh as new president of the handset. Shin isn’t leaving the company and will remain as overall head of mobile division. This move is to simply have Shin focus on developing new businesses and plan a long-term strategy for the ailing division.

J.K. Shin is said to be giving up control management of day-to-day operations to another executive so he could focus on other things especially on matters related to growing the handset business. You see, the odds haven’t been in favor of Samsung recently. There’s profit growth alright but the company is actually selling phones for less money. All these are happening, no thanks to close Chinese rivals that are selling more affordable units. Huawei and Xiaomi are the top two competitors of Samsung in the mobile industry especially int the low end market.

More people within the Android community are learning to rely on Chinese OEMs for their smartphones because specs are already good for such affordable prices. Why choose the more expensive Samsung phones when you can get the same specs at lower prices? That’s what people are thinking nowadays and so Samsung is losing a lot of customers. Even the latest premium flagship phones–the Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 Edge+, and Galaxy Note 5–didn’t do anything to improve the sales even if the reviews are remarkable.

Hopefully, the change in management would help and bring good news to Samsung. The new handset business president, Koh, used to lead the mobile research and development division. His transfer to the mobile group is expected to be effective since he’s been leading the development of premium devices recently like the Note 5 and Galaxy S6. Let’s see how Koh will turn the business around.

VIA: Reuters