Initial pre-orders for Samsung Galaxy S9 reportedly down compared to Galaxy S8 sales
Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S9, may be underperforming compared to the previous model, with a report on South Korean sales and an analyst's pre-order note suggesting the main rival to Apple's iPhone's launch is lower than the electronics giant anticipated.
Arthur Wood Research analyst Jeff Johnson's note to investors seen by AppleInsider suggests the pre-orders for the Galaxy S9 are down approximately 50 percent compared to those of the Galaxy S8. Johnson writes the pre-orders are "significantly underperforming pre-launch expectations of 10 percent to 15 percent growth."
South Korea, Samsung's home country, is also seemingly disinterested in the Galaxy S9, with Yonhap News sources also report that the first-day sales performance in the country was around 70 percent that of the S8. While the Galaxy S8 is said to have racked up 260,000 pre-orders last year, only 180,000 units of the S9 appear to have been pre-ordered this year.
Johnson suggests the lower orders is a sign of customers "upgrading [at] a much slower pace as features are falling on deaf ears." The analyst suggests "smartphone sales are starting to decline at an accelerating rate," impacting not only Samsung's flagship mobile device, but the industry as a whole.
Calling it a problematic trend, Johnson believes this could be an issue for companies like Apple and legacy component producers in smartphone supply chains, identifying Broadcom, Qualcomm, Cirrus Logic, and Skyworks Solutions as potential victims.
"We think AAPL supply chain investors are already on edge given what's been reported thus far," Johnson writes, "but we fear that smartphone demand over the next couple of quarters is poised to disappoint." The analyst predicts this will cause carriers to produce "more aggressive promotions" in order to shift excess inventory.
More data on the Galaxy S9 order situation is expected over the next week.
The Galaxy S9 received mixed reviews from critics this week, with a similar design to its predecessor and underwhelming new features overshadowing the specification improvements.
Arthur Wood Research analyst Jeff Johnson's note to investors seen by AppleInsider suggests the pre-orders for the Galaxy S9 are down approximately 50 percent compared to those of the Galaxy S8. Johnson writes the pre-orders are "significantly underperforming pre-launch expectations of 10 percent to 15 percent growth."
South Korea, Samsung's home country, is also seemingly disinterested in the Galaxy S9, with Yonhap News sources also report that the first-day sales performance in the country was around 70 percent that of the S8. While the Galaxy S8 is said to have racked up 260,000 pre-orders last year, only 180,000 units of the S9 appear to have been pre-ordered this year.
Johnson suggests the lower orders is a sign of customers "upgrading [at] a much slower pace as features are falling on deaf ears." The analyst suggests "smartphone sales are starting to decline at an accelerating rate," impacting not only Samsung's flagship mobile device, but the industry as a whole.
Calling it a problematic trend, Johnson believes this could be an issue for companies like Apple and legacy component producers in smartphone supply chains, identifying Broadcom, Qualcomm, Cirrus Logic, and Skyworks Solutions as potential victims.
"We think AAPL supply chain investors are already on edge given what's been reported thus far," Johnson writes, "but we fear that smartphone demand over the next couple of quarters is poised to disappoint." The analyst predicts this will cause carriers to produce "more aggressive promotions" in order to shift excess inventory.
More data on the Galaxy S9 order situation is expected over the next week.
The Galaxy S9 received mixed reviews from critics this week, with a similar design to its predecessor and underwhelming new features overshadowing the specification improvements.
Comments
Google not upgrading the OS on their own devices after 2 years is a disaster. The Android ecosystem is a fragmented mess.
This world be a perfect time for Amazon to disrupt the established Android players. All the have to do is have guaranteed updates for 4 years.
I’m not going to say Android sucks, etc. it’s a pretty good OS. But the same mess continues year after year. It’s difficult to consider Android a suitable alternative to Apple, especially in the workplace.
And when that happens Apple can make a fortune selling 200+ million iPhones every year to people upgrading their 3 year old devices.
model, and maybe larger, higher quality display. And perhaps equally important to hardware specs is upgradeability. You’ll want a smartphone that can stay current with new capabilities in software and apps. And finally, you’ll want to know your phone will retain its value so that you can get back some of what you paid when you eventually replace it. All of this, of course, points to iPhone for more users.
I'm amazed that Samsung is actually getting praise for ever so slightly improving the fingerprint sensor from the ludicrous back of the device to a different ludicrous position on the back of the device. They should have stuck to slavishly copying Apple, now they taken a wrong turn and it's only going to get worse.
If Android phones were not taking more than 50% of the worldwide market then all sorts of Monopoly investigations would start happening. While there are several makers of android and they take the volume (by numbers) then the politicians are kept under wraps.
If Android dops to 40% of the market, the free ride that Apple has had will stop almost overnight.
The last thing I think any APPL stockholder wants is governement intereference in pricing etc.
If there was a company that needs looking into for its domineering practices then I'd take a look at Amazon. Who/where is the competition for that Behemoth then?