2016 was a bad year for most smartphone manufacturers, but two of the most hard hit companies were Samsung and Apple, the global leaders in smartphones. While Samsung’s fiasco with the Galaxy Note 7 was an impediment in many ways, Apple didn’t fare that well either, experiencing its first year of negative sales growth.
The Galaxy S8 represents hope for Samsung. Although they didn’t tank last year, the setback was not a negligible one. As for iPhone Edition – the latest rumored name for the 10th anniversary iPhone, formerly called iPhone 8 – it is super-critical to Apple’s sales for this year.
But neither company is planning on sitting with just the one flagship model and praying for the best. They’ve made moves that will play out through the year.
Though the Samsung Galaxy S8 that’s launching on March 29 is expected to sell exceedingly well, it might not be enough. So, the South Korean electronics giant added a few aces up its sleeve for 2017. Among these is the possible release of a line of foldable devices that a essentially tablet-smartphone hybrids. Fold it in and it’s a smartphone; fold it out and it becomes a 7-inch tablet. In addition, Samsung mentioned a while ago that Note 7 customers could wait and get a replacement of a Note 8.
It’s not just Samsung that needs multiple devices to offset the pain of 2016. For Apple’s part, there are plans to release iPhone 7s and iPhone 7 Plus as well. They’re already introduced a red iPhone 7 and a higher memory variant of iPhone SE.
The only difference between Apple’s strategy and Samsung’s plans is that Samsung will lead with the flagship models, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. Apple, on the other hand, is introducing everything else ahead of the star attraction, iPhone Edition.
With smartphone sales declining globally, every manufacturer is thinking about multiple models for this year. The frightening part for Apple and Samsung is that other players like Huawei, OnePlus and others are making inroads into the premium smartphone space so far dominated by Apple and Samsung.
With the launch of Samsung Galaxy S8, the company will have some sort of performance projection for 2017. Apple, unfortunately, will need to wait until the fourth quarter of 2017 before they know their projection numbers. Obviously, iPhone Edition is what they’re pinning their hopes on.
Thanks for reading our work! Please bookmark 1redDrop.com to keep tabs on the hottest, most happening tech and business news from around the world. On Apple News, please favorite the 1redDrop channel to get us in your news feed.
