Samsung’s Mass Appeal Gives It Edge Over Apple: Experts
Samsung is set to unveil the third version of its successful Galaxy smartphones later Thursday in London, which is being touted as an iPhone challenger, but an expert argues that if Samsung wants to stay a leader in the smartphone market, it has to retain its mass appeal among consumers.
“Samsung has smartphones cheaper than $200. In that sense I see it with a much larger user base than Apple,” Melissa Chau, research manager-client devices at International Data Corp. Asia-Pacific, told CNBC Asia’s “Squawk Box.”
“We’re going a see a lot of new smartphone demand come in from countries like China and India, that will help sustain growth, and Apple only has phones in the very high-end, this limits their growth,” Chau added.
Samsung has sold more than 20 million of the Galaxy S-II phones since its launch in April 2011. Its success recently helped Samsung overtake Nokiaas the world’s biggest seller of mobile phones, and even overtake Apple as the leader in the smartphone market, according to data from IDC.
But maintaining its competitive edge in the mass market for smartphones is not going to be easy as Samsung faces tough competition.
“The challenge for Samsung is actually going to be in the lower end as we see more and more of the Chinese players come in,” Mark Newman, senior analyst, global memory & consumer electronics, at Sanford C. Bernstein, told CNBC’s “Cash Flow.”
Chinese companies like ZTE and Huawei Technologies have already announced plans to take on the dominance of Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market.
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Disclosures:
Disclosure information was not available for Melissa Chau or Mark Newman, or their employers.
