DJ Koh, president of mobile communications at Samsung Electronics, has confirmed that Samsung is overhauling its smartphone strategy. The company will now be packing more technology in its mid-range devices to appeal to the masses that can't afford the flagships.
Samsung will be developing higher-spec mid-range handsets
It's a strategy that the Chinese manufacturers have used to their advantage. They have aggressively priced devices with better tech compared to Samsung's offerings in the mid-range segment. This has caused the company's lead to reduce gradually in key markets like India where most customers purchase cheaper but higher-spec devices.
Koh said that this change in strategy for its mid-range devices like the Galaxy A series is also meant to make its devices appeal more to millennials. Instead of introducing new technology in the flagship Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series, the company will now look to bring some of those cutting-edge features to its affordable models first. One of the first devices based on this strategy is going to be released later this year.
“In the past, I brought the new technology and differentiation to the flagship model and then moved to the mid-end. But I have changed my strategy from this year to bring technology and differentiation points starting from the mid-end,” Koh told CNBC.
He added that the company is very much focusing on millennials who can't afford the flagship models. That's why Samsung is now trying to differentiate the mid-section because the idea is to deliver meaningful innovation to these customers. Koh also pointed out that Samsung could also release these cheaper models more often than just once a year.
It remains to be seen, though, if this change in strategy is going to achieve the intended results.
