As the Samsung Galaxy S8 and
S8 Plus handsets hit the retail shelves, the South Korean company
has announced that pre-orders for the flagship smartphones are up thirty
percent year on year. That’s good news not just for Samsung after the Note 7
failure, but for the smartphone ecosystem as a whole.
Tim
Baxter, COO and President of Samsung America, delivered the news:
At Samsung, we believe it
is a privilege to make groundbreaking products that are enjoyed by millions,
and have recommitted ourselves to innovate, not only with new products and
services, but also in process. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are a result of that
recommitment and the market has responded – with a more than 30 percent
year-over-year growth in pre-orders versus the record pre-orders we had with
Galaxy S7, making it our best ever. The response is
humbling, energizing, and
points to a great launch week.
This
suggests that Samsung has retained the confidence of consumers following the
incendiary Galaxy Note 7. The global recalls and eventual dropping of the
flagship phablet was a painful period for Samsung Mobile that could have had a
long-term impact on the brand. Surveys at the start of 2017 suggested this would not be
the case and the Galaxy S8 would not have to carry the ballast of the battery
fires. Samsung can point to the increased pre-sales if anyone questions the brand power.
It’s unlikely that the
ratio between pre-orders and walk-up retail sales will be widely different to previous
years, so this should be taken as a sign that the Galaxy S8 is on course to be
Samsung’s biggest selling smartphone. The company will be looking forward to a
significant contribution to its bottom line from the mobile team, something
that hasn’t been expected since the middle of 2016.
Finally
for now, it shows that the demand is still there for a high-end Android
flagship packed with technology. Although LG is making a solid application to be in this leading pack with
the G6, the Galaxy family is the only effective challenger in terms
of sales to Apple’s iPhone. Strong sales of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus keeps
Apple honest both in terms of pricing on the upcoming iPhone models and in the
push the technological envelope with new hardware and design ideas.
Coupled with a positive reception from the critics, the Galaxy
S8 and S8 Plus are on course to return Samsung to the top of the Android tree
for the first time in nearly a year, provide a strong challenge to Apple’s
current and future iPhone line-up, and to define what it means to be a
smartphone in 2017.
Credit: Ewan Spence (Contributor)
Source: Forbes
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