Right now, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) may be Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s biggest competition in the smartphone market but if analysts are right, Apple may no longer have to worry about competition.
Last week’s launch of the Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) Galaxy S4 proved to be non-eventful, and now consumers are waiting for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to release the iPhone 5S. According to Yankee Group’s analysts, this could be a big deal for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
“While Samsung updated the internals and the software, the S IV is just another iteration on the Galaxy design to be slightly bigger, faster and with a few new apps. We fully expect the Galaxy S IV to be an excellent flagship phone for Samsung, but Yankee Group doesn’t see the S IV allowing Samsung to gain ground against Apple in the crucial U.S. market,” said Yankee Group’s vice president of Research Carl Howe.
It is important to remember, Yankee Group has the data to back up their predictions. In a March 2013 survey for U.S. consumers, 40 percent of people planned on buying an iPhone within the next six months whereas only planned on buying a Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) smartphone.
The same survey also shows that 85 percent of iPhone users are likely to purchase another iPhone while only 61 percent of Samsung users want to purchase another phone from the same brand.
Howe added that the recent numbers are only a small decline from last year’s quarter. He also mentioned that Samsung doesn’t have the same group of faithful followers that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has. He added that if Samsung doesn’t find a way to change their customers minds, they might end up losing a lot of users.
For those who want to purchase the Galaxy S4, the phone will be available through all four major carriers in the United States sometime during the second quarter.
Samsung has yet to release the official pricing information although it’s predicted that it will retail for about the same amount as the Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) Galaxy S3.
