Last year was a year of redemption for Samsung in the flagship smartphone market following the debacle that was the Samsung Galaxy S5 released in 2014.
With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge, they have redefined the flagship smartphone line of the Korean tech giant with their groundbreaking designs and superb features.
Its main competitor, Apple, may have put up a good fight with the release of the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus in September last year, but it seems clear now that the current year, 2016, is Samsung’s momentum year.
Since the release of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge, the Korean tech giant has been dominating its Apple flagship counterpart and is very evident in the market share of the two giant tech companies in the US.
In fact, during the four-month period from February to May this year, it has been noted that the Samsung flagship smartphones have outsold their counterparts from Apple with a 1.4% sales advantage.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge accounted for 16% of US smartphone sales while the combination of the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S Plus generated 14.6% flagship handset sales in the US, reports BGR.
Maintaining its edge
While pundits are saying that Samsung’s edge may be temporary since Apple is about to release the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus in September, some analysts still think that the Korean tech giant may maintain its edge the rest of the year especially if reports are true that the upcoming iPhones shall not be the game-changing models.
According to a recent research by Kantar Worldpanel, the percentage of Samsung to iPhone switchers is much higher than the percentage of iPhone users jumping ship for Samsung devices.
However, what seems clear to critics at this time is that the iPhone 7 does not appear to be a game-changing device in the way that the iPhone 4 or the iPhone 5 were.
After frontrunning for several quarters in terms of sales, the iPhone showed its first decline in sales figures at the start of 2016.
Based on the same research by Kantar, Samsung had the biggest share of the US market, with 37% compared to Apple which accounts for 29%.
A monumental achievement for Samsung
But Apple still maintains a higher loyalty rating from its users with 88% of its current customers whereas Samsung has an 86% loyalty and satisfaction rating from its customers.
Although it would seem that Apple has the advantage, the 86% of loyalty rating for Samsung is actually a monumental achievement for the Korean tech giant, which used to be very good at selling people new devices but awful at supporting them and making customers feel valued, notes The Verge.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 has really built on the gains of the Galaxy S6 and is arguably the best flagship smartphone since the Apple iPhone 6S.
It is clear that Samsung’s consistent improvement in camera quality and user experience is evidently paying off.
Incidentally, this year is the year of the Olympic Games which shall be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil beginning on August 5.
Samsung is a company known for launching special editions of its smartphones for celebrating special global occasions. In 2012 for instance, it has launched a limited edition of its Samsung Galaxy S3 to mark the Olympic Games in London.
Following the official unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S7 in March this year, the Korean tech giant also launched a Batman edition of the Galaxy S7 Edge, which was made as part of the promotion for the Warner Bros movie based on DC Comics, “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
The movie went on to become a blockbuster success, raking in more than $872 million. It is likely that the Batman edition of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge was sold out even before its limited run ended.