Samsung Profits Tumble as Apple Enters Large-Screen Phone Market and Low-End Options Thrive

[HenryDJP]

Windows Phone lack of success is simply the fault of not getting phone out to the pubic. Thier marketing department blows.

When windows phone first came out MS should have flooded the market wiith low cost or free with a contrat phones to build a base, that would be willing to stay.

The OS is nice, and with some tweeks here at there it could easily rival android, and possilby i0S in time.

That sounds like "logical" but to be honest, that's not the reason, at least from my own perspective. Over the years people have grown tired of the Windows monopoly and wanted choice. Either at work or home you were basically forced to use Windows if you wanted to get along in the computing world.
It's not that way anymore. That's one of the reasons Blackberry was so successful in the business world. It wasn't Windows. But then Blackberry had a monopoly. Then Apple and Google released their OS's and now people have choice. Windows Phone and the Surface aren't very successful because people now have choice and are no longer being forced, with the exception of some business entities.

This is the same issue with the Xbox One vs. the Playstation 4. People have grown tired of Microsoft and they can't catch up to Sony with the Playstation 4.

 

[Traverse]

Just a nit pick really, but what is evil, if not doing something that goes against ethical conduct.

I would say an intention to hurt. Samsung may not take the best measures to protect their workers, but I don't believe they go out of their way to hurt them.

 

[Heltik]

The Samsung galaxy alpha seems to be a step on the right path though.

Path of further plagiarism?
--

Usually in life I try to seek pleasure from positive actions in my life, and how I can help others. On this occasion I must confess to a wry sense of pleasure at Samsung's misfortune.

 

[AlterZgo]

I think Samsung is a good competitor for Apple and I agree if it weren't for Samsung creating the larger phone/phablet paradigm, Apple would be stuck at 3.5" or 4" phones for the foreseeable future.

That said, I'm amazed by how people now view Samsung as a mfg of premium products. My experience w/ Samsung products - phones, appliances, TVs, etc. is that they cram a bunch of features and release many new models, but their support of the products is lacking and the products are not all that great from a usability, quality, and performance standpoint. None of their products have a truly premium feel or performance.

 

[jaison13]

Pretty sure you're just parroting the same thing everyone else says whenever Samsung takes a loss. You really think Apple will just kick back and relax just because competition isn't there as much anymore? Pretty sure they have more sense than that.

they already have kicked back and stared mailing it in!!!! have you seen the upgrades others are doing?? better screens on phones that have been out for 6 months. more ram, better quality assistant than siri, better cameras. apple gave us nothing really new or groundbreaking in the iphone 6, and the ipad hasn't change at all since the first one. and it looks like that will be the same with there air 2's. a surface blows away the ipad with functionallity!! we still don't even have any form of multitasking yet. and what will we be getting? a very limited version. split screen. when you have no competition you don't bother competiting.

 

[anomie]

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving company.

If Samsung had stuck to providing parts for other OEMs and done their own *original design* phones, they would not be in this spot right now. They may have missed some of their highs, but they would have had a solid, long term, sustainable business.

So they'd have the same they have now, only without "some of their highs".
Hopefully you'll never make it to a deciding position in any company...
Unbelievable how far this blind apple love can go

 

[spectrumfox]

Path of further plagiarism?

Plagiarism? You mean how Apple just started making bigger phones like Samsung did years before them?

 

[anomie]

Path of further plagiarism?
--

Usually in life I try to seek pleasure from positive actions in my life, and how I can help others. On this occasion I must confess to a wry sense of pleasure at Samsung's misfortune.

Their plagiarism is quite a while ago, these days apple is stealing from others as much as they can.
It's just business.

 

[samcraig]

Crawl back into your lonely hole, and don't bother reappearing. No one will miss you.

Insulting me twice now? Ok. How about you take a moment to "think" about your assertion and why it's wrong given the article and other information presented.

Hint: I'm not going to spell it out for you given your incredible "wit."

 

[BaldiMac]

Stupid Moronic Headline.

Yes, Samsung profits fall, good quality low priced models coming up.

NOT because Apple have just in the past couple of weeks launched a large screen model.

Sheesh.

As with several others in this thread, the problem is more with your paraphrasing of the headline than what the headline actually says. Because the actual headline simply suggests a correlation with two separate facts, not causation by one of them.

 

[macfoxpro]

Samsung will do fine. They put out decent products. But damn, that 6 Plus is a head ringer. I flippin' love this device. I dropped my iPhone 5 in the river about 6 months ago. I wasn't going to buy another 5, as I desperately wanted a bigger screen, so I went with the Samsung S5. That phone wore me out. Sure, getting used to the OS was a bit of a learning curve but nothing complicating or anything. In fact I enjoy using new tech devices and new OS'. There were a ton of ways to tweak the phone...a ton of ways that I didn't really care about. I mean, it's okay, but I am SO GLAD for the 6 Plus. It's the best phone on the planet right now, IMO.

 

[nviz22]

It doesn't surprise me that Samsung's profits tumble with their mainstream devices. They don't focus on what the consumer wants as much as they should. LG and HTC release strong iterations on their last two flagships. Motorola and the Nexus line provide cleaner experiences. Many people don't like the Touchwiz lag. A bunch of my friends have the S4 and they had tons of problems. Lag, overheating, SD card issues, battery reduction at a rapid rate, etc. Now, the S5 has some of those issues too. I am on my 5th S5 and I am about to leave Samsung. For all the flack Apple gets from people, they still continue to sell their phones to consumers. Apple may lag behind the competition with screen sizes, memory, etc, but they do make up for it in quality and reliability. Samsung focuses on making cheaper and flimsy products that are layered with many gimmicky features while holding back the software. I know it's either Galaxy or iPhone for the casual user, but Samsung having so many issues hurts them. Each phone has its fair share of issues, but I feel like Samsung can turn it around. They used to be very good. The S3 and Note 3 are their best products overall in terms of user satisfaction. That annoying flap on the S5 is just one of the litany of problems I have with it.

 

[subsonix]

I would say an intention to hurt. Samsung may not take the best measures to protect their workers, but I don't believe they go out of their way to hurt them.

Then no corporation is likely evil. I don't think the intention has to be to hurt, but simply ignore bad consequences of an action in the light of some economic benefit for example.

 

[wookiee2cu]

I guess it's true that Karma is a bitch.

I must say that the last couple of Samsung ads I've seen were not attacks on Apple, but actually ads that highlighted the capability of their own products. Although the latest one was highlighting a feature that my iPhone has had for a couple of years (and that works better on the iPhone).

But my biggest problem with Samsung is not the fact that they attack Apple, or copy from Apple. It's their despicable business practices.

As a corporation they are very unethical. The article that I read recently that highlighted some of their shady practices was disgusting. And before the haters want to claim that Apple is "no better" and "acts like any other "corporation" in this regard, I will say you're absolutely wrong. Apple would never keep regulators at bay outside their headquarters for hours while destroying evidence inside.

People keep mentioning all the commercials, do you remember Apple started all that with the Mac/PC commercials? I'd say a majority of companies are involved in some practices that some would find shady, especially with the tech industry... I think that's just the nature of the beast. Just because you haven't heard anything about shady practices doesn't mean they aren't using them, it just means they haven't gotten caught yet. Look at Apple setting up locations in Ireland to avoid paying all those taxes, if that loophole gets closed (which is being looked into now) Apples profits are going to take a hit.

 

[Col4bin]

Couldn't have happened to a better company!!!

 

[D28Z98]

Now would be a good time for them to dump some more money into some new ads that continue to insult the customers they're trying to obtain.

 

[62tele]

As others have already stated, this is no big surprise. The only real "innovation" Samsung offered was a larger screen size. It became an obstacle for some to purchase an iPhone as the larger screen sizes appealed to so many. That differentiation is gone for Samsung (and other premium Android devices too).
The iPhone was and is the more desirable product in aesthetics and the public's perception.

While it is not as iconic as the iPod was in marketing terms it has more brand recognition than any other phone. Like the iPod defined the mp3 player, the original iPhone defined what a smartphone should be. Some still use iPhone as a generic term. App commercials say "for your iPhone or Android device."

It's somewhat ironic and amusing that Samesung, whose whole design approach is to copy, is now the object of Apple adopting the only useful feature Samsung had: size.

 

[sc4rf4c3]

This is a great day for Macrumors and other Apple forums. I think I'll have a 2 hour lunch today to celebrate.

 

[KPandian1]

You strike me as somebody who is very naive with that statement. I wouldn’t mind betting something quite substantial of mine that Apple, (and plenty of other companies), have interpreted lots of laws in lots of creative ways, been blind when they need to and got away with all kinds of crap over the years.
Think about it. We all do what suits us when we think we can somehow justify it to ourselves and those that favour us. We love to think we are ethical but refuse to spend the time and money it takes to be really demonstrably ethical. As individuals we harp on about the environment and then we buy a 2 ton car with a 5 litre supercharged engine. Yeah, great. What’s wrong with a small engined item that only does 80Mph?
Just to be clear I have a 2 ton car with a 5 litre engine.
Now multiply that by 1,000,000 and you have the way in which corporations behave. ALL corporations.

M biggest problem with Samsung is that I don’t really like their 'finished products’.

I drive 10-15 miles just to keep up with the traffic; most other times I do that anyway! What is your point? Mega corporations bend the rules as it suits them - that is not news!

No Android phone will be as good as it is without Apple's success, i.e., quality and fan-base.

All the smart phones and computers we use are like those 300++ HP 6-12 cylinder cars we drive, way more power and speed than we need or use - though the environmental impact is not so obvious.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Amazing how people here still call them "Samesung", when Apple JUST entered the phablet market that Samsung started years ago.

The irony of that is just delicious, but unfortunately goes right over the heads of most posters here, because

not really. Samsung's entire mobile offering is a direct ripoff of Apple's.

Samsung may have made a phablet first, but Apple made it *right*. same stories w/ tablets, smartphones, music players, and personal computers -- apple isn't concerned w/ being "first!", just right.

 

[z06gal]

I think one thing to consider is that there are simply better options among Android phones. I had 4 Android phones before electing to move to iPhone but Samsung would not be my first choice. I don't care for the Android OS which is why I left but I would look at the Nexus, LG, or Moto-X phones first. Just my opinion

 

[appleii.c]

IMO, where samsung failed is focusing too much attention on Apple, and not on their REAL competitors - HTC, Motorola, Microsoft etc. Maybe this will change soon and we'll see some Anti Motorola campaigns. Who knows.

I often see comments aimed at the Apple fan implying that they believe "in order for Apple to win, samsung needs to lose"... I think it's samsung that believes too much in the notion that for THEM to "win", Apple needs to lose. They started believing that Android did not exist outside of Samsung, that it revolved around them. So quietly the other Android handset manufacturers started improving their products, and have caught up, and in some cases surpassed them in terms of quality and performance. While samsung was busy attacking the guys in the front, they ignored their backsides.

 

[Tycho24]

People at MacRumors need to get out of the mindset that for Apple to win Samsung has to lose. >_>

I think you're wrong.
I think ANDROID and Apple can coexist happily both successful. However, I think Samsung will continue their horrible illegal business practices, blatant copying, and generally pour salt in the game in every conceivable way. I think the only way they're ever going to stop is when they become less successful. Then we can have the happy choice between quality products from Apple, who are playing fair & creating their own products & all the Android handset manufacturers who are also playing fair and creating their own products... if Samsung in the future decides that would be a good route, they could slip back into the fold.

 

[Solomani]

Oh I will, as I think we all know those profits were not sky high until 2 weeks ago then came crashing down after the iPhone launch.

NEXT quarter sure.

If the iPhone 6/Plus does indeed end up decimating Samsung's phablet profits in the next 3-4 months….. then the next Samsung quarterly report (in January 2015) will be even more butt-hurt than the one reported this week.

I guess we will see…. in January 2015!

 

[gnasher729]

I would say an intention to hurt. Samsung may not take the best measures to protect their workers, but I don't believe they go out of their way to hurt them.

When people get sick in your factory, as it happened at Samsung, and then the company does whatever is in their power to keep the lids on it, to pretend nothing happened, and most importantly to avoid giving those people any help and any compensation, that is evil. It's like a hit-and-run with your car. You are not evil for hitting a person with your car, but you are evil if you drive away leaving them injured on the street, to avoid your insurance cost going up.