As Samsung gears up for the official release of its new flagship devices, the Galaxy S8 and S8 edge, the question on everyone’s mind is (aside from “will the batteries explode?) will the Korean OEM be able to recover its reputation and sales? The whole Galaxy Note 7 disaster has taken its toll on Samsung, but early numbers are suggesting that the new flagships may help with the recovery. A market study by Kantar also suggests that there may be a market opportunity for them if they continue to find growth in this landscape.
The numbers from Kantar show that as of February 2017, the Galaxy S5 remains the most popular among the Samsung devices in the US with a 15.6% share among the Samsung installed base. It was followed by the Galaxy S7 (11.5%) and the Galaxy S6 (11.4%). In the past year, 28% of that base chose to upgrade to a newer Samsung device, and a little over a half chose the Galaxy S7/S7 edge and 10% chose the Galaxy S6. The rest is divided among their wide and diverse array of 48 devices.
20% of Galaxy S7 owners say that they plan to upgrade within the next 12 months. Unless they plan to change their brand preference, then that means it’s going to be the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 edge for them. Even though the release of the flagship devices is a month later than their usual schedule, initial numbers show that the pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 are double than that of what happened when they released the Galaxy S7.
So the bottomline is that Samsung should be able to keep their consumers within the Samsung ecosystem in order to recover from the problem that the defective battery of the Galaxy Note 7 caused them. They will be able to do that by expanding into other categories (like smart home products) and also “finding growth in an ever-changing technological landscape.”
SOURCE: Kantar
Not only will I *NOT* be upgrading to the S8, I will not be buying another Samsung product in the future. I paid full price for an Unlocked S7 Edge directly from Samsung. The monthly security updates come out every 3 months and while I still don’t have Nougat, most carriers already have it for the S6 and Note 5. According to the official support forums they are *HOPING* to have it out in 4 to 6 weeks but they have been promising the update was coming “soon” since it initially rolled out to carriers. The S7 Edge was my first, and DEFINITELY my last Samsung.