Samsung is losing market share. That much is true, especially in markets like China and India, and the low-end and mid-range segments are where Samsung has been affected the most. The reason is pretty simple – upstarts like Xiaomi and OnePlus have been offering amazing hardware at low prices, and Samsung's phones have fallen by the wayside thanks to the fact that they are rather overpriced for the experience they offer.
When the Galaxy E5 and E7 were announced, I was skeptical about their success. On paper, neither of the two phones came close to what the competition was offering in these markets. Once I reviewed them though, I realized that both devices are possibly the best mid-range smartphones Samsung has ever made. They have great Super AMOLED displays (not as good as the ones on flagship phones), the software is fast and smooth with nary a hint of the lag and stutter that has been associated with Samsung smartphones, and their battery life is also pretty stellar.
Overall, both the Galaxy E5 and E7 offer more bang for the buck than anything Samsung has come up with before, and here in India, both devices are doing quite well. Retailers we have talked to have reiterated that consumers are showing a lot of interest in the two phones – the displays are what seem to attract consumers the most when it comes to the Galaxy E5 and E7, and compared to Samsung's previous mid-range offerings, the pricing is somewhat sensible as well.
Basically, this is a good sign of how Samsung is beginning to slowly come around to the idea that the days of asking consumers to cough up more cash just because of its brand image are coming to an end. Neither the Galaxy E5 and E7 are as feature-packed as the offerings from smaller companies, but that's not really an issue here. What's important is that the Korean giant is finally offering appealing options to consumers in the mid-range market.
The low-end market is still completely bereft of anything remotely interesting from Samsung, but one step at a time (two, if you consider how the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge change the game in the high-end market) is looking like the right approach for the company's attempts to keep the competition at bay.
