Initial reports about the Galaxy S9/S9+ sales have been mostly positive, but things seem to have changed substantially in the last quarter. There has been a growing number of reports in the last couple of months about the sluggish sales of the latest Galaxy flagship smartphones. Even the company’s Q2 earnings guidance is hinting at a slowdown in the Galaxy S9 sales.
A new report from Samsung’s home country is joining the chorus now. According to a report in The Bell, the Galaxy S9 sales in the second quarter were less than what Samsung sold in the first quarter of 2018. The Korean company reportedly sold 9 million units of Galaxy S9/S9+ in Q2 2018, down from the 10.2 million units it sold in the first quarter. Even the combined sales of the first two quarters dropped from 21.2 million units of Galaxy S8 in 2017 to 19.2 million units of Galaxy S9 this year. It appears Samsung’s aggressive marketing didn’t have much of an impact in convincing customers to buy the top-end Galaxy models.
First time in the history of the Galaxy S series
This is apparently the first time in the history of the Galaxy S series that Q2 sales are lower than the Q1 numbers. It is pertinent to point here that the S9 duo was available for purchase only for a couple of weeks in the first quarter as they went on sale only in mid-March. Yet, if the pre-bookings and two weeks of sales in Q1 are indeed higher than the three-month sales in Q2, then it points to an acute underperformance by the latest Galaxy flagship devices.
The report also says that Samsung is launching the Galaxy Note 9 a few weeks earlier than the Note 8 to counter the sluggish S9 series sales. An early Note 9 release will also help Samsung to snatch away few customers before the latest iPhones hit the market sometime in September.
