“We have two very different things happening in the smartphone world. We have Apple, who is growing smartphone share in many regions where people said iPhone peaked, raising ASPs, and capturing new customers switching from Android,” Ben Bajarin writes for Tech.pinions. “Then we have Samsung, who has quite a different circumstance. Samsung’s mobile phone unit is suffering from nearly every symptom found in the ‘You Are Being Disrupted’ handbook. Not shockingly, they missed estimates again.”
“The article also goes on to say their smartphones in the $150 range sold well but their premium smartphone sales are falling off a cliff. Their blended handset ASP from 105m total units shipped and 84 million of that smartphones was $180,” Bajarin writes. “There is absolutely nothing they can do to fix the downturn in their premium handsets. No amount of innovation will save them because the ‘good enough’ mindset has settled into Android land.”
“When you ship the same operating system as your competition you are only as good as their lowest price. This is the curse of the modular business model. This is also why Samsung had hopes for Tizen. They actually knew this was coming,” Bajarin writes. “I know this because I discussed it with them in 2013 and was convinced they understood this was their fate if they continued to sell out to Android. Unfortunately, Android was their only option given its momentum. I’ll make a prediction. Samsung will be out of the smartphone business within five years.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: That long?
It’s best not to mess with karma. – Steve Jobs
Buck up, slavish copier, there’s a light at the end of this tunnel you’ve dug for yourself. A very bright light:
