Samsung fanbois of the world rejoice! After years of trying to be as cool as those pesky iSheep, it seems Samsung is finally making headway in what the Korean corporation thinks is its major competitor.
It’s no secret that Samsung is the world biggest mobile phone vendor for the last couple of years, albeit with a reducing market share, what with the likes of Xiaomi and Huawei making significant inroads. However, Samsung has never been satisfied with this. It always thought of its flagships to be in competition with the iPhone. Their marketing over the years of the Galaxy S line has always compared itself to that iconic device. When seen through this prism, Samsung haven’t been as successful. But finally, they may be getting somewhere.
Recent data from leading phone retailer Mobile Phones Direct has shown some really interesting stuff
- Samsung sales have risen 13% in the past year and overtake Apple by 3%.
- 2015 was the first year that Samsung outsold Apple in the latter part of the year (the new iPhones are released in autumn of the year).
- The Edge devices make up 55% of the Samsung market.
- Both the S6 Edge and S7 Edge variants sold more than the “standard” S6 and S7 devices.
- The S7 series devices have broken previous Samsung sales records.
- Mobile Phones Direct sell more S6 edge devices than the “standard” S7.
Simon Weedon (Online Marketing Director at Mobile Phones Direct) said
“The Samsung launch Galaxy S7 launch was initially slow, but the product eroded in price very quickly offering consumers a lot more value for money than the iPhone 6S… The iPhone 6S launch in September 15 was slow from what we can see. I don’t think there was enough difference between the 6 and the 6S for consumers to break their 24-month buying cycle”.
Now one set of sales figures don’t tell the whole story, but I’d wager that Samsung executives may be popping a few champagne bottles at this news. Anecdotally, I have seen a lot more Samsung Edge devices over the last few months than I expected. That edge screen which many derided as a bit of a gimmick with limited functionally seems to have won over Joe Public with its sheer coolness! What do us nerds know, eh?
What do you all think? Let us know in the comments.