Can Foldable Phones Rescue Samsung?

Signs are emerging that Samsung is losing its grip on the global market. The Korean IT giant sold 68.8 million smartphones all over the world in the fourth quarter of this past year compared to Apple's 70.7 million, the 1st time in 2 yrs that Apple beat Samsung in quarterly sales.

The increased loss of market share was particularly marked in China and the U.S., although it was overtaken in the burgeoning Indian market by Chinese rivals.

The problem could go beyond poor fourth-quarter earnings. Samsung were able to retain the global top spot regarding earnings for the ninth straight year in 2019 thanks to its solid performance in Africa, Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia, but Apple staged a major comeback with record sales in the last fourth quarter, while Huawei is catching up quickly despite a U.S. campaign against it.

Even before third quarter of this past year, the IT industry expected Samsung's full-year sales to surpass 300 million phones, however in fact they reached only 295.1 million. Since peaking at 317.5 million handsets in 2017, its sales fell to 291.3 million in 2018 rather than regained the landmark 300 million since.

Meanwhile the gap without. 2 player Huawei continued to narrow, from 85 million in 2018 to 55 million in 2019.

Industry watchers blame weak sales of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S10, which was released in February last year. According to market watcher Counterpoint Research, Samsung sold just 36 million S10s until year-end as the gauge of success is 40 million.

Samsung also centered on boosting sales of less successful mid- and low-priced phones.

Samsung is evidently struggling in key markets. The Indian market grew seven percent this past year predicated on output to emerge as the world's second largest. In 2018, Samsung accounted for 34 percent of the premium market there but lost to China's One Plus, which last year controlled 33 percent of against Samsung's 26 percent. In the entire market, it was overtaken by Xiaomi in 2018 and Vivo in the fourth quarter of last year.

Samsung has recently lost its lead in the 5G smartphone market. According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung, which released a 5G handset for the very first time on earth last April, produced 6.7 million 5G phones by year's end, coming second after Huawei's 6.9 million though it had a four-month lead.

Industry watchers blame Samsung's lack of innovation. Chinese rivals are coming out with many new types of phones, while Samsung's latest products mirror their predecessors and neglect to draw the attention of consumers.

Things usually do not look too bright this season either amid gloomy forecasts as a result of coronavirus outbreak. Samsung hopes to achieve a breakthrough using its new foldable phones and unveils a new one in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA on Tuesday called the Galaxy Z Flip.

It is also likely to unveil another foldable phone with a more substantial screen in the next half of the year.