Samsung openly admits 'positive reaction' to iPhone 6 Plus prompted early launch of Galaxy Note 4
The "difficult situation" brought on by record-breaking opening weekend sales of Apple's new, larger iPhones has prompted arch-rival Samsung to both speed up the release of its Galaxy Note 4 as well as slash the phablet's list price, a company official publicly said this week.
"The positive reaction from consumers to those two Apple devices prompted us to launch the Note 4 earlier than previously scheduled," a Samsung marketing executive said, according to the Korea Times. "Samsung will be aggressive in promoting the Note 4 as it's true that we are being challenged and pressured amid a difficult situation."
Samsung will now rush its Galaxy Note 4 into consumers' hands this Friday in South Korea and China. It will then debut in the U.S. on Oct. 17.
The company's moves will allow it to beat Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to market in those two countries. Apple has not yet announced launch dates for its next-generation handsets in South Korea and China.
The Galaxy Note 4 was first announced by Samsung early this month with an October launch window.
Apple sold some 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units in the three days after they became available in a number of markets, including the U.S. and U.K., starting last Friday. The Cupertino company could have sold even more, CEO Tim Cook said, if not for manufacturing constraints.
"While our team managed the manufacturing ramp better than ever before, we could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible," Cook noted.
Samsung, in contrast, will reportedly ship 3.75 million Note 4 units for launch weekend at a reduced price of ₩957,000 ($920), a $100 discount from the launch price of the Galaxy Note 3.
"Samsung aims to ship 15 million Note 4s in the first 30 days after the product launches, which is very ambitious given the challenging situation," another Samsung official told the paper.
"The positive reaction from consumers to those two Apple devices prompted us to launch the Note 4 earlier than previously scheduled," a Samsung marketing executive said, according to the Korea Times. "Samsung will be aggressive in promoting the Note 4 as it's true that we are being challenged and pressured amid a difficult situation."
Samsung will now rush its Galaxy Note 4 into consumers' hands this Friday in South Korea and China. It will then debut in the U.S. on Oct. 17.
The company's moves will allow it to beat Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to market in those two countries. Apple has not yet announced launch dates for its next-generation handsets in South Korea and China.
The Galaxy Note 4 was first announced by Samsung early this month with an October launch window.
Apple sold some 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units in the three days after they became available in a number of markets, including the U.S. and U.K., starting last Friday. The Cupertino company could have sold even more, CEO Tim Cook said, if not for manufacturing constraints.
"While our team managed the manufacturing ramp better than ever before, we could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible," Cook noted.
Samsung, in contrast, will reportedly ship 3.75 million Note 4 units for launch weekend at a reduced price of ₩957,000 ($920), a $100 discount from the launch price of the Galaxy Note 3.
"Samsung aims to ship 15 million Note 4s in the first 30 days after the product launches, which is very ambitious given the challenging situation," another Samsung official told the paper.
Comments
This going to be interesting to watch, if they were so confident they had a better product and their was demand for their product, won't consumers wait and pay the price, they had no need to do this since Apple is just copying them.
Launching earlier than planned and slashing the price? Yeah, nothing can go wrong there. I look forward to more moronic moves from Samsung during their death spiral.
So Samsung lost a big share of Apple's fab business, thinking that was ok because they'd make more profits selling high-margin smartphones.
Oops.
Hey Samsung, Apple would have NEVER pushed for an early launch nor a price reduction on its iPhones no matter how many Galaxy S and/or Note smartphones you claimed to have sold... uh, shipped in three days!!
They better lock the windows at Samsung Tower.
Next month's numbers are going to drive a few execs even more batty.
I honestly think Samsung has jumped the shark. They are out of ideas. Apple has been described many times as having jumped the shark but it never worked out for those critics. Will Samsung become “beleaguered?” I seriously doubt it but I think its run to the top has been thwarted, that and Samsung’s propensity to throw stuff on the wall and hope something sticks. What’s next for them now that screen size has been dealt with by the iPhone 6+ ( but mind you I still think phablets are way too big for the average user)?
Cheaper price will only serve to reinforce the perception that their phones are lower quality.
And this is absolutely the difference between Apple and Samsung. Apple doesn't need to be first, they need to be best. Samsung needs to be first and their products suck as a result.
That's correct, but they did make a big screen iPhone because of all the devices Samsung was selling.
I honestly think Samsung has jumped the shark. They are out of ideas. Apple has been described many times as having jumped the shark but it never worked out for those critics. Will Samsung become “beleaguered?” I seriously doubt it but I think its run to the top has been thwarted, that and Samsung’s propensity to throw stuff on the wall and hope something sticks. What’s next for them now that screen size has been dealt with by the iPhone 6+ ( but mind you I still think phablets are way too big for the average user)?
You may be correct regarding the mobile devices division of Samsung. Its moment in the sun may be drawing to a close. The Chinese are killing them at the low-end and they can't compete with Apple at the high end. It's a very painful squeeze.
But I think for Samsung as a whole (that is, looking beyond the mobile phone division alone), I'd characterize this more as "returning to normal" rather than "jumping the shark." The profits from the mobile phone division have been a huge outlier for a conglomerate like Samsung. Most of their businesses are "boring" in the sense that they involve big capital investments combined with slow and steady innovation (think SSDs, washing machines, chip fabs, etc). Samsung will probably go back to being more like GE than a high flying tech company.
Hey, Samsung, the positive reaction isn't because of the screen size, but because of the level of conscious design from the HW to the SW.
What's HW and SW?
If they manage to ship (edited, i had said "sell") 15M units in the first 30 days, that would be impressive in comparison: S5 11M units, S4 10M units, Note 3 5M. Considering the S5 and the Note 4 are same-generation devices, I'd imagine them being cross-shopped. They're essentially hoping the Note 4 will sell 3X as much than its predecessor, which seems highly doubtful. With many more choices out there, Samsung's high-end market has serious competition (LG's, Sony's, Oppo, OnePlus, etc.). And now with the 6 Plus, Samsung is going to fight a serious uphill battle, it's going to be bad news for the Note 4 after the first month.
edit: changed 'sell' to 'ship'
Another knee jerk reaction...
No doubt!
Back to matter in hand maybe Samsung should of released the Note 4 earlier instead of waiting until a month after the announcement.
Hard Water / Soft Water...