It’s tough to be a smartphone maker in the current market, especially if that said company is a leader in the market. Once a tech company has launched a successful product, the pressure is on. Fickle consumers want and demand more from each subsequent model, and if the company fails to satisfy with its more recent product, there is pressure to release the next phone. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) is a prime example of this.
High expectations for Samsung Galaxy S5
The South Korean tech giant released the Samsung Galaxy S4 earlier this year and it failed to meet consumer expectations. Now there is immense pressure for Samsung to release the Galaxy S5 as fans are hoping this phone will be a bigger improvement than the last. The current Galaxy is too much like the Galaxy S3 and that’s obviously not what their customer base wants. What the customers do want is something different and fresh. Something that will set the Galaxy apart from all other competitors including the iPhone. Whether Samsung can deliver what they want with the next phone remains to be seen.
We’ve been keeping tabs on the Galaxy S5 and the purported specs. Earlier this month, we shared a report that the highly-anticipated Galaxy S5 could feature 3GB memory, and could possibly be released in May 2014. Another possibility mentioned was octa-core processors instead of quad-core processors.
Samsung and Apple sales
Despite the immense disappointment and poor sales, Samsung still managed to beat Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in customer satisfactions. We reported earlier that a recent study from ACSI which indicated Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930)’s flagship phones outperformed Apple phones including the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.
Later on this year, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will release the iPhone 5S and possibly the iPhone 5C(a low-cost version of their flagship phone). There is no word on when the phone will officially launch but it’s predicted to be released sometime in September. How and if this will affect Samsung Galaxy S5 sales remains to be seen.
