Samsung's smartphone shipments to see first-ever annual decline

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Samsung's smartphone shipments to see first-ever annual decline

This could be a real downer of a year for Samsung, which looks headed for a first-ever drop in its annual smartphone shipments.

Market researcher TrendForce said Wednesday that it expects shipments of smartphones from the South Korean electronics giant to slip 1 percent from last year's level.

That would be a significant turn of events for a company that has made some of the most popular smartphones in the world and whose Galaxy line has vied mightily with Apple's iPhones as a top-of-the-line choice for consumers.

The writing has been on the wall. Samsung's smartphone sales and market share have been tumbling over...​

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Great News. Now hurry up with those folding screens, doubt the Chinese can compete with that anytime soon.

 

[Andres Cantu]

And this is just the beginning. Next year people will realize that Samsung's stock is somewhat overvalued and once Apple orders all A10 chips from TSMC (now that we know their chips are better), things will get very interesting.

Even if Apple orders some chips from Samsung, their trump card of metal designs was not enough to turn sales around (unlike Apple's bigger screens which increased sales further). They need another breakthrough besides bigger screens to go back to where they once were in the Galaxy S3 days.

 

[spinedoc77]

Great News. Now hurry up with those folding screens, doubt the Chinese can compete with that anytime soon.

This is the killer revolution IMO. LG is also ready to release. I predict a frenzy like when the ipad was released.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

This is the killer revolution IMO. LG is also ready to release. I predict a frenzy like when the ipad was released.

Yup, will be another game changer for sure.

 

[Andres Cantu]

This is the killer revolution IMO. LG is also ready to release. I predict a frenzy like when the ipad was released.

I do not expect Apple to be the first one on that.

 

[Klyster]

What I got from the article is globally, Samsung AND Apple are losing traction to Chinese manufacturers.

 

[Billy95Tech]

Not surprising as people have got smartphones now and they gotten soooo powerful and last a lot longer so that people will not upgrade there phones not as often.


Now expect the smartphones sales to be declining for a long time just like tablets are at the moment!!!

 

[FFR]

What I got from the article is globally, Samsung AND Apple are losing traction to Chinese manufacturers.

Apple is actually doing very well in China. They sold three million iPhone 6s/plus in China on the launch weekend.

Samsung in the other hand is losing ground to Apple in the premium segment and the budget segment t simultaneously.

 

[Savor]

It's all about the Chinese...

Chinese makers are killing them in the lower end and Apple finally decided to cater to that market a little more last year and sales exploded for them.

I am actually surprised by it. I guess I was too optimistic with its S6 edge chances. Still, Samsung has only been relevant since the decline of Sony with overall electronics esp with TV's and Motorola and Nokia with phones. Prior to Samsung being #1 in volume sales, it was all about Nokia. Before 1998, it was Motorola (the grandparent and Atari of cell phone history).

But if Samsung succumbs #1 to Apple as top OEM phone seller, it is still a long way back to 3rd place as a bunch of other OEM's are fighting for that spot.

The companies to look out for -

Xiaomi
LG
Huawei
Lenovo

But the industry and consumers are fickle. Two years ago, HTC One M7 was critically acclaimed. Now nobody seems to care about HTC anymore. Sony should just stick to their PlayStation brand as that is the most line next to their Walkman brand.

Every empire falls.

For Apple fanboys, do you think their success will last forever? Look at IBM. I remember saying this about the LA Lakers. Just five years ago, they won their 5th title in a span of a decade. Now look at them. Nothing last forever. Two years ago, I wasn't aware of Xiaomi and Oppo. Now look at them. It is very hard to predict what the next five to ten years will be like. It is a game of musical chairs with all of these brands. Or a Game of Thrones... Clash of Clans.

 

[I7guy]

It's all about the Chinese...

Chinese makers are killing them in the lower end and Apple finally decided to cater to that market a little more last year and sales exploded for them.

I am actually surprised by it. I guess I was too optimistic with its S6 edge chances. Still, Samsung has only been relevant since the decline of Sony with overall electronics esp with TV's and Motorola and Nokia with phones. Prior to Samsung being #1 in volume sales, it was all about Nokia. Before 1998, it was Motorola (the grandparent and Atari of cell phone history).

But if Samsung succumbs #1 to Apple as top OEM phone seller, it is still a long way back to 3rd place as a bunch of other OEM's are fighting for that spot.

The companies to look out for -

Xiaomi
LG
Huawei
Lenovo

But the industry and consumers are fickle. Two years ago, HTC One M7 was critically acclaimed. Now nobody seems to care about HTC anymore. Sony should just stick to their PlayStation brand as that is the most line next to their Walkman brand.

Every empire falls.

For Apple fanboys, do you think their success will last forever? Look at IBM. I remember saying this about the LA Lakers. Just five years ago, they won their 5th title in a span of a decade. Now look at them. Nothing last forever. Two years ago, I wasn't aware of Xiaomi and Oppo. Now look at them. It is very hard to predict what the next five to ten years will be like. It is a game of musical chairs with all of these brands. Or a Game of Thrones... Clash of Clans.

Like the pejorative term "fanboy", it certainly adds an air of credibility to your post.

This is the old internet argument: "what comes up must come down". I agree anything could happen:
- san francisco could be leveled by an earthquake
- In the vein of "every empire falls" samsung could go out of business and their mobile division could be bought up by apple.

Pick your unlikely scenario. But I agree bad business decisions by CEOs can set a company's fortunes far back and every empire falls (Blackberry) even those you may like.

 

[Fernandez21]

That's really disappointing. Samsung finally stepped up this year and made great phones with the S6 and Note series. I hope they don't decide to scrap things and go back to the cheap plastic phones they made before.

 

[Andres Cantu]

That's really disappointing. Samsung finally stepped up this year and made great phones with the S6 and Note series. I hope they don't decide to scrap things and go back to the cheap plastic phones they made before.

I don't see that happening. The more likely scenario is an all-metal Galaxy S7 (no glass back).

 

[dec.]

This is the killer revolution IMO. LG is also ready to release. I predict a frenzy like when the ipad was released.

Or a "frenzy" like when that edge was released?

 

[FFR]

That's really disappointing. Samsung finally stepped up this year and made great phones with the S6 and Note series. I hope they don't decide to scrap things and go back to the cheap plastic phones they made before.

I don't think Samsung stepped up this year, quite the contrary, their smartphone lineup this year can be considered a failure, either due to lackluster sales or extremely weak demand. Not to mention the poor Samsung customers that got suckered into paying full price for these devices, value dropped sharply, I can now get a second hand s6 for about £250 or an s6 edge for about £340, 5-6 months after launch. It's frankly ridiculous how badly these devices are selling almost blackberry bad.

For any indication, just look at the users on the forum. It's rare to see any one that actually purchased a galaxy S6 or s6 edge on or around April/May. Most either sold theirs or moved on to other android devices.

 

[spinedoc77]

Or a "frenzy" like when that edge was released?

I don't think the sales numbers indicated that, although admittedly I don't know if that's the case. Can anyone less lazy than me pull up the sales number for the edge? In any event IMO foldable screens will truly create a paradigm shift, being able to combine a small tablet with a smartphone is quite powerful, but of course let's see the implementation first. Foldable screens is not something I would ever compare to curved edges which have almost no practical uses.

 

[Fernandez21]

I don't think Samsung stepped up this year, quite the contrary, their smartphone lineup this year can be considered a failure, either due to lackluster sales or extremely weak demand. Not to mention the poor Samsung customers that got suckered into paying full price for these devices, value dropped sharply, I can now get a second hand s6 for about £250 or an s6 edge for about £340, 5-6 months after launch. It's frankly ridiculous how badly these devices are selling almost blackberry bad.

For any indication, just look at the users on the forum. It's rare to see any one that actually purchased a galaxy S6 or s6 edge on or around April/May. Most either sold theirs or moved on to other android devices.

Sorry, but sales don't determine the quality of a product, only its success. That's why I'm saying it's a shame, Samsung finally came out with quality products this year, yet they're less successful than the crappy over hyped plastics phones they came out with before.

In the Android space, there is no other "compact" phone that's better than the S6, and no other phablet better than the Note 5, best you can say is other phones are comparable. While in years past you could easily make the argument that HTC, Sony, or even LG were making better handsets.

 

[Tsepz]

Oh dear... Good thing their other business units are doing well.

What I love in Android, if one OEM falls, there's always another to take their place.

Hope this makes Samsung work harder bring some beasts next year!

 

[FFR]

Sorry, but sales don't determine the quality of a product, only its success. That's why I'm saying it's a shame, Samsung finally came out with quality products this year, yet they're less successful than the crappy over hyped plastics phones they came out with before.

In the Android space, there is no other "compact" phone that's better than the S6, and no other phablet better than the Note 5, best you can say is other phones are comparable. While in years past you could easily make the argument that HTC, Sony, or even LG were making better handsets.

Then this is where we disagree. Quality sells.
Simple as that.

Android space, iOS space, Windows space it just doesn't matter consumers don't make that distinction. They usually buy one at the cost of others. It's called opportunity costs.

Again if the note 5 and the s6 (and all its variations) were the best, the product would sell.
It isn't selling. And if it isn't selling, no matter how you feel about the product, it is a failure.

 

[FFR]

Oh dear... Good thing their other business units are doing well.

What I love in Android, if one OEM falls, there's always another to take their place.

Hope this makes Samsung work harder bring some beasts next year!

Yup, the consensus is unanimous, if it wasn't for apples partial a9 orders this year Samsung would be in a very different position.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Yup, the consensus is unanimous, if it wasn't for apples partial a9 orders this year Samsung would be in a very different position.

You're absolutely correct.

If I were invested in Samsung stock, I would be nervous next year when we find out whether or not Samsung is an A10/A10X supplier. It's ironic that sometimes people say that the iPhone relies too much on Samsung, but now the same thing can be said about Samsung's revenue/profit.

 

[FFR]

You're absolutely correct.

If I were invested in Samsung stock, I would be nervous next year when we find out whether or not Samsung is an A10/A10X supplier. It's ironic that sometimes people say that the iPhone relies too much on Samsung, but now the same thing can be said about Samsung's revenue/profit.

Speculation is running rampant that apple gave all chip orders to tsmc, on account of Samsung messing up on a9 orders. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

"Trade secrets stolen from TSMC helped Samsung win Apple’s A9 chip business, rules Taiwanese court | 9to5Mac"
http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/26/tsmc-samsung-chips-apple/

 

[Tsepz]

Yup, the consensus is unanimous, if it wasn't for apples partial a9 orders this year Samsung would be in a very different position.

Oh no, R.I.P to them then

Roll-on the next OEM.

If Huawei can get their Software, SoC, distribution, and customer service right, I see them overtaking ol' Sammy.

I am looking forward to 2016 now more than ever, its been a difficult time for many of these OEMs, they have no choice but to innovate and put their very best efforts out. I am more so looking forward to seeing how the Chinese OEMs do, Huawei put out some good products this year.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Speculation is running rampant that apple gave all chip orders to tsmc, on account of Samsung messing up on a9 orders. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

"Trade secrets stolen from TSMC helped Samsung win Apple’s A9 chip business, rules Taiwanese court | 9to5Mac"
http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/26/tsmc-samsung-chips-apple/

That's right, I remember reading that. Certainly a scenario with a high probability of occurring.

I wouldn't be upset if the A10 processor is still built on a 16nm process, since it looks like the 10nm process might take a while to perfect.

 

[Michael Goff]

And this is just the beginning. Next year people will realize that Samsung's stock is somewhat overvalued and once Apple orders all A10 chips from TSMC (now that we know their chips are better), things will get very interesting.

Even if Apple orders some chips from Samsung, their trump card of metal designs was not enough to turn sales around (unlike Apple's bigger screens which increased sales further). They need another breakthrough besides bigger screens to go back to where they once were in the Galaxy S3 days.

Speculation is running rampant that apple gave all chip orders to tsmc, on account of Samsung messing up on a9 orders. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

"Trade secrets stolen from TSMC helped Samsung win Apple’s A9 chip business, rules Taiwanese court | 9to5Mac"
http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/26/tsmc-samsung-chips-apple/

TSMC cannot make enough chips to keep up with the demand. Why do you think Apple used two different companies for it? Unless Apple wants fewer sales, which they don't, they won't screw up and make it one company only. Especially not for 2-3% different performance in normal use cases.