Smartphones which once only allowed people to make calls, receive/sent messages and play games such as Snake, have now evolved so much, it seems there is absolutely nothing today that can’t be done on these compact devices. Major smartphone players of the industry Samsung and Apple, are now facing intense competition from the companies such as Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo, that kind of imitate them in experience, but launch the devices at just half the prices of what Apple and Samsung offer.
The South Korean giant Samsung has announced four new smartphones and while they offer great all round experience to users, the company is making the same mistake as Apple is doing now. Consumers nowadays don’t want to spend so much on smartphones and there are many reasons for it. But, more on that later.
These mistakes are now pushing Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo to acquire more ground on Apple and Samsung.
Mistake 1: Price
The mistake that tops the list is the price. Samsung's and Apple’s new phones cost way too much. The newly-launched Galaxy S10e retails at $749, and while it could do better with the wallet-friendly users, however, the Galaxy S10 starts at $899 and the Galaxy S10+ costs $999. And these prices go up, if you want to have more storage or RAM. Average people just don’t spend this much.
At number of times, Apple has cited that its customers hold on to their phones longer and the main reason being that iPhones last longer, which clearly indicates that customers aren't as willing to upgrade as they once were when these smartphones were in their reach.
Mistake 2: No useful innovation
We all have at some moment in our lives waited for new phones to get the hands on because they offer better cameras, beautiful displays and fast data download speeds. But that innovation has kind of slowed down. Many people now want a phone with a long-lasting battery life.
But, what Samsung brought with the new Galaxy S10 line-up is colourful screens, in-display fingerprint sensors, camera in the cut-out and while these are fun to have but aren’t compelling enough to urge users to make the purchase. Why should someone with a Galaxy S9 that has a great AMOLED display, facial recognition and great cameras would spend another thousand bucks for these upgrades?
While Samsung announced the Galaxy S10 5G that ensures faster data speeds, but the smartphone will not hit the shelves until the second quarter.
Apple also lacked innovation in the new iPhones and the only thing I heard was iPhones cost way too much. Bigger screens, fast processors, and the improved cameras were not able to make a statement in China, and the sales dropped further.
Mistake 3: Missing markets viz. China
The rising trade tensions between the US and China has impacted its Apple iPhone sales with shipments declining 20 per cent due to the expensive prices. But while Apple is still selling a huge chunk of its phones in China, Samsung on the other hand doesn’t even stand in the list of top five. Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and OnePlus have taken that advantage and are selling phones at a large. The trade tensions are hurting both Samsung and Apple.
The effects
These mistakes have largely impacted sales of Apple and Samsung. Apple's shipments declined 7.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018. Samsung's shipments fell 5.3 per cent. Huawei witnessed 47.3 per cent growth and Oppo, another Chinese brand, saw 20.6 percent growth.
To increase sales, Samsung and Apple should take a step to cut margins -- something that will disappoint investors -- to help decrease the cost of phones to more reasonable prices. Or they need to find new ways to offer unique experiences to users.
