14 DAY TRIAL // Last year will not be remembered as a good year for Samsung’s premium smartphones, especially considering the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Samsung’s sales of high-end smartphones have dropped below the 30% mark, following a trend that started a few years back.
In the second quarter of 2013, Samsung released the Galaxy S4 at a time when its sales of high-end smartphones reached 75% of all phones sold globally. 2013 marked the year when Samsung sales of premium phones started gradually declining, getting to under 40% in 2015.
Now, high-end phones sold by Samsung account for just 29%, having dropped 11% in just two years. It’s worth noting that Samsung conducted the recall of a flagship smartphone last year and focused heavily on selling more S7 and S7 edge units to compensate.
The average sales price for Samsung phones also dropped
The numbers are for the first quarter of this year, and Samsung may still turn its luck around with the release of the Galaxy S8 and S8+, scheduled for later this year. The arrival of a new Samsung flagship will also make predecessors even more attractive, considering that prices of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge will surely drop and many deals will convince some customers to go with last year’s powerful smartphones.
Since we’re on the topic of pricing, the recent report also shows that Samsung’s devices were sold for an average of $232 globally in 2016. The figure dropped by 19.7% compared to 2015’s mark of $289, while Apple’s average sales price for last year rose by 7% compared to 2015, reaching $645. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering that Apple doesn’t manufacture entry-level smartphones and its most affordable product in the lineup last year, the 32GB variant of the iPhone SE, has a price of $399.
It remains to be seen how Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 flagship will perform in terms of sales this year, considering that the phone will have a higher price compared to last year’s flagships, rumored to reach €799 for the standard model and €899 for the higher-end Galaxy S8+.