Samsung to concentrate on profit rather than handset volume

2. downphoenix posted on 10 Jan 2012, 22:42 7 0

one thing that will help in profits is charge apple more on components.

24. E.N. posted on 15 Jan 2012, 21:11 0 0

Apple is already looking for new vendors for some of its part. If I were Samsung, I wouldn't want to do anything to catalyze this like charging them more for no reason except "we want to make more money."

And I'm glad Samsung is going public with their new business target to move to be somewhat Apple like and launch fewer models and focus on profit. It shows everybody that Android manufacturers don't crap out 100s of phones because of "freedom" or "choice" or "making the phone You." Just like Apple, Samsung and HTC want to make money. If making one device every single year will make Samsung significantly more profit, then you can bet that's what they'll do.

12. SGSatlantis posted on 11 Jan 2012, 08:48 1 0

The price difference is less than 50%, they can`t undercut Samsung by much more. I agree that Samsung is on a roll right now and in a year or so that will change, but R&D is where Samsung is ahead of everyone else. Waiting for SuperAMOLED HD Plus with RGB to roll out in a few months, good luck reverse engineer that and a Exynos quad.

21. ardent1 posted on 12 Jan 2012, 01:19 0 2

You need to understand basic business. If a company is an innovator, that company needs to recoop their investment in R&D, supply chain, production, machining, tools and dies, training, etc. That company has to figure out how to manufacture the prototype, manufacture in volume, fix bugs, fix production defects, fix production bottlenecks, get the assembler on the learning curve, develop marketing, etc.

All the copyist has to do is open the finished product, reverse engineer the design, find competing suppliers, hire the same assembler, and VOILA the copyists arrives at a similar product with comparable specs at a fraction of the development costs. Plus, it now rides the coattails of the innovator who spent millions promoting their device -- all the copyist has to do is say our device does the same and is cheaper!

> Waiting for SuperAMOLED HD Plus with RGB to roll out in a few months, good luck reverse engineer that and a Exynos quad.

It's the same argument with Intel chips or AMD chips -- AMD chips are just as good as in it will get the job done. Huawei can get a similar display from Sharp or LG, etc, and it doesn't need the Exynos quad when Qualcomm or Nvidia or Texas Instrument have comparable chips.

Here's the unavoidable fact that Samsung can't ignore -- Android OS is free, Huawei has access to alternative products (i.e. Intel vs AMD), Huawei can piggyback off Samsung's R&D, Huawei can use the Foxconn to assemble their handsets. At the end of the day, Samsung cannot command a price premium as Android users want to pay the lowest amount for their handsets.

Just look at the MS-OS PC's -- it's about being the low cost producer. Acer, Sony, Asus, Dell, etc cannot command a price premium because their products are similar. The same thing will happen in the handset market.

22. SGSatlantis posted on 12 Jan 2012, 06:53 0 0

You are right on a couple of stuff, in fact on all but one. There is reason why SGSII is the second best selling smartphone in most of the world. It costs 600$ unlocked while the iphone is 800$, people buy what they want and is within their budget. The LG 2X is 350$ and "does the same and is cheaper!" and LG is a familiar brand at that. I guess "Android users want to pay the lowest amount for their handsets." is not a true statement, there are android devices 200-700$ because not everyone can afford the high end stuff.

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23. ardent1 posted on 13 Jan 2012, 03:51 0 0

> is not a true statement, there are android devices 200-700$ because not everyone can afford the high end stuff.

As a general comment, it is a true statement because you purposedly left out the qualifier "at the end of the day". It's true rich people are indifferent to the price of the devices i.e. they will pay without looking at the sticker price), however, you would be amazed at the "ELASTICITY" (an economic term for price sensitivity) on handsets for the rest of us.

You will see that as technology advances and the market is matured as it becomes saturated (i.e. at the end of the day), people will buy the low cost devices. Right now, android hand sets are still rather new as the smartphone market is still growing. You know this smart market is a young market due to the high growth rate -- mature markets have very low as in low single digit growth rates.

To be clear, I am not talking about today or now, I am talking about the future when I use the term "at the end of the day". I have posted that it will take about 2 years for Huawei and ZTE to learn the US market and then (i.e. 2 years in the future) they will take share from the established players like Samsung.

The second best selling handset is NOT the SGSII -- the Apple 3GS and 4 are two best selling phones in the world. To put things into peerspective, there is an estimated 85 to 90 million iPhones to be sold in calendar year 2011 so there is NO way SGSII is the second best selling phone.

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8. jasrockett posted on 11 Jan 2012, 00:54 5 0

Wax coated paper pulp ...

9. harsh_732006 posted on 11 Jan 2012, 04:01 3 1

you..

17. mctcm posted on 11 Jan 2012, 11:06 0 0

Sony is making some awesome devices. I hope they come to VZW

13. SGSatlantis posted on 11 Jan 2012, 08:52 0 0

That is just a terrible comparison friend. I assume you drive 760L?! And btw nokia started first with the Symbian 3, the cheap 5800 and so on. Right now the cheapest five smartphones are Nokia.

14. SGSatlantis posted on 11 Jan 2012, 08:55 0 0

SGSII is getting ICS and Nexus is available in most of the world.

20. SGSatlantis posted on 11 Jan 2012, 12:26 3 0

This is related to Samsung and not android. 16gb iphone 4 costs 20% more than SGSII, tell me that`s not overpriced for a year old model.