Samsung Electronics has set their sales goal for Galaxy S6 as over 77 million devices. It is the highest record ever, higher than Galaxy S3(77 million devices), which has been sold the most among the Galaxy series. This shows their ambition to reclaim ‘the throne of smartphones’ through an overwhelming sales volume. In order to accomplish this goal, the supply and demand of Galaxy S6 Edge parts became a priority.
On April 9th, Samsung Electronics held an event called, ‘Galaxy S6 World Tour Seoul’ at the Seocho Building in Seocho-dong, Seoul. At this event, which was held one day before the official release, Shin, Jong-gyun, president of the IT Mobile(IM) sector mobile communication division, said, “Sale volume depends on your support. I expect a higher number than that of previous models such as Galaxy S5.”
It was President Shin’s first time in two and a half years to appear at a new product launching stage in person, ever since the release of Galaxy Note 2, which implies how much expectation there is on Galaxy S6.
The best-selling model among the Galaxy S series is Galaxy S3, of which 77 million devices have been sold. President Shin expects Galaxy S6 to break this record. There is much attention towards whether an 80 million seller will be made possible for the first time ever.
Market research institutions and securities predicted the sum of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge sales for this year to be over 50 million. No prediction has been made yet on the total sale volume.
Lee, Sang-chul, vice president of the mobile communication division strategic marketing office, said, “We expect the sales volume to hit the highest record ever among the Galaxy series, and are preparing a marketing strategy based on the outstanding quality.”
Samsung Electronics pointed out that responses of domestic and international markets and clients, and the press after the revealing of Galaxy S6·S6 Edge were favorable. President Shin expressed them as “enthusiastic responses.” However, the better the responses, the deeper the worries. The supply and demand for the popular Edge model’s parts are not flowing smoothly.
President Shin said, “Producing curved display is not easy, and thus, the supply is limited compared with demand. By raising the yield and improving supply quantity, we will loosen supply limits. For the time being, there will be difficulty in the supply.”
Here, Samsung Electronics strongly denied the so-called ‘bandgate,’ the bending of the smartphone when steadily stressed. It has been a controversy recently since a US insurance company for electronic products showed a video in which Galaxy S6 bends. Samsung Electronics even sent a rebuttal video.
President Shin emphasized that since high-intensity aluminum and glass were used for Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, they cannot be bent by the normal power of humans, and thus, are safe to use.”
Staff Reporter Kim, Yongju kyj@etnews.com)