The Android market is in a delicate situation right now, and a lot can possibly happen in the next few months. Samsung was the “de facto” leader of this part of the smartphone market, but the recent fiasco around the Galaxy Note 7 has significantly undermined the company’s reputation, and some are now questioning their future on the market as a whole.
While it was technically just one device from Samsung’s entire line, many less tech-savvy people still associate it with the entire line-up of the company, and this has caused severe issues for them. At the same time, it’s created a ripe opportunity for other companies to move in and take that market share, and it looks like many are already working in that direction.
OnePlus are rumored to be preparing something quite extraordinary with their OnePlus 4, and while we don’t know the exact specifications of the device yet, if it’s even part of what the rumors are claiming, it should make quite the splash on the market.
There are talks of specifications such as 8 GB of RAM, a 4,000 mAh battery, and other impressive hardware details that should make this one of the most solid flagships on the Android market. And it could be a direct competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy Note line too, as long as it has a sufficiently large screen and a smooth interface.
And we already know that OnePlus are quite good at the latter – in fact, some hold them in higher regard than Samsung for the quality of their version of Android, and we expect to see even more progress in this regard with the release of the OnePlus 4.
Some more peculiar rumors allegedly coming from within the company are claiming that OnePlus are specifically trying to take advantage of Samsung’s troubled situation in the development of their new phone. What exactly this could entail remains to be seen, but there are talks that we might see an aggressive marketing campaign that highlights Samsung’s failure with the Note 7, contrasting it to the OnePlus 4.
That would probably cross some legal lines though, so we would be surprised if things actually go that far. But in any case, it would likely be a smart move for many manufacturers at the moment to capitalize on Samsung’s situation.
This all depends on the timing of the releases of those devices as well though. It’s possible that Samsung and OnePlus won’t even find themselves in direct competition with one another, and this would arguably be the better situation for Samsung if the rumors about the OnePlus 4 turn out to be true.
Nobody knows for sure what the company is going to do to recover from their problematic situation though, and it’s possible that they might have a contingency plan that they’re already running through. Samsung are a company with a very long experience and presence on the market, and it makes sense that they would know how to recover from even a more problematic situation like this one.
So far the company has been pretty quiet though, and we’ve heard some rumors that they might be considering some job cuts at the higher levels. It would be strange to see that, as usually it’s the low-level workers that end up suffering when the company as a whole messes up, but perhaps Samsung has identified a bigger problem in their organization that they need to address.