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About LinkBacksRead more.The South Korean tech giant flagged a near 60 per cent year-on-year plunge in profits.
Read more.The South Korean tech giant flagged a near 60 per cent year-on-year plunge in profits.
A bit like PC's smartphones now have become a commodity and with increased contract prices and longer contracts less upgrading is needed
Old puter - still good enuff till I save some pennies!
Not to mention phones like the Moto G are more than enough for most users.Originally Posted by 3dcandy
The biggest problems in my opinion for with Samsung are they need a high end premium product, the s5 is not while the alpha falls short on performance. Not everyone wants a phablet. They also don't have a decent low end phone like a Moto G....then there's touchwiz (which looks like it will get even worse on Android L), all other manufacturers are staying pretty close to stock android these days except for Samsung.
Throw in some good android competition from Moto, Sony and HTC, not to mention the cheap Chinese brands, and you can understand why Samsung are losing out.
Hmm, but I've been reading that this year's iPhone release has also been less successful than a lot of the "experts" thought it would be.In the premium smartphone area, Samsung has been out-classed, notably by Apple's iPhone releases, whilst at the same time it is undercut by Chinese rivals such as Lenovo and Xiaomi at the value end.
So in the absence of the iPhone juggernaut at the top end then who else can be held responsible? To me, the second part of that quote above is key - Leonovo (nee Motorola) seem to get a lot of love for the Moto X and G - so Samsung's traditional "pile 'em high and get everyone to sell 'em" market is going elsewhere. The other point is that other high end competition have definitely upped their game.
EDIT: while I was typing this LSG501 posted the same thing, so I can't be too far off base.
Taking myself as an example, I was looking for a replacement for my much-liked Galaxy S3 and I ended up with a short list of HTC M8, Sony Xperia Z2/Z3, LG G3 and Galaxy S5, with the S5 being the weakest option. In the end I plumped for the G3 (because I liked "minimalist" UI), but if asked to rechoose I'd be quite happy I think with any of the competition. The S5 struck me as pretty plain looking and loaded to the gun'als with "value add" software of Samsung's that conversely made it less appealing. As it stands today, the only mobile device of Samsung's that appeals to me is the new Note.
So if I'm typical, then perhaps that's the rest of the reason why previously can-do-no-wrong Samsung are now losing a bit of their sheen? And I'm not sure that - given the way that the market is moving* - that Samsung will be able to rule the roost in the same way that they have done previously.
(* new entrants like the One+1, Microsoft putting more focus on mobile, etc.)
Last edited by crossy; 07-10-2014 at 02:07 PM. Reason: Seen LSG501's post.
Career status: still enjoying my new career in DevOps, but it's keeping me busy...
Touchwiz, well I kinda like it - but each to their own.
Problem is that people do like to try something different too - and as well as Samsung there is now a multitude of broadly similiar options
Old puter - still good enuff till I save some pennies!
Maybe they should put some effort towards high end smartphones rather than high end phablets.
http://forums.hexus.net/android/3298...ml#post3388637
Even their mid range is going all phablet size and the prices are just way too high. They have so many different models of phones but other than the S5 and Note, what answer do they have to the Moto G? Only their flagship devices can outperform the Moto G, yet almost all of their smartphones offerings are more expensive. They should just slap a Snapdragon 410 onto the S5 mini, price it accordingly and remove any unstable software that slows down the experience.
Finally, Samsung are just awful at making software. Their Kies desktop stuff just doesn't work (at least with older phones). Their latest updates have made the S4 mini randomly reboot constantly. Their Android skin has handicapped their flagship smartphone S5 so much that it can barely beat the Moto G in terms of responsiveness.
@Crossy.... we must think alike
Like you when I was looking at phones I went and made a shortlist, Samsung was on the list but was removed due to touchwiz (I hate it). Honestly I could have bought any phone I wanted because I buy off contract anyway but I ended up with a Moto G. I've said in another thread I'd pick a Moto X (2014) if I wanted another android phone although I'm likely going windows next though. When choosing I weighed up the options and realised as much as I love tech and the latest specs I didn't need a high end phone, 720p and 4.5" is a pretty much a sweetspot for me and I don't want a phablet, 5" would be my limit due to putting my phone in my pocket lol and any bigger I may as well use my nexus 7. Then when I thought about what I use it for, web, email, messaging etc I realised I wasn't going to use a high end cpu/gpu either because I wouldn't be doing gaming on my phone. I'm sure I'm not alone in this scenario either as this is more a 'work' focused usage scenario.
Have to say as well that this Moto G has given me one of the best experiences of Android yet, it's almost as quick at updates as a nexus and it's as fast or faster than my nexus 7 2012.... and it can last for up to 3 days with my usage pattern before charging
There is a worrying trend towards these phablets too, there's only really a couple of phones which are 'high end internals' but smaller size, Samsung/LG offer phones with similar spec to the Moto G but charge more than twice the price. Only Sony seem to be catering for normal phone sizes with decent specs, I can't think of any others if I'm honest lol.
Having said that I think Samsung has lost a bit of it's lustre for me now, I used to swear by them for tv's/pc screens but the last 2 screens I bought from them have both failed/had issues within the first 2 years, yet I've still got an old 17" tft screen which is about 10 year old which still works fine apart from looking a little yellow due to colour of backlight. I think they've got a bit too big and quality seems to suffer when companies grow to fast etc.
Samsung have too many phone models and what is the need to release a new phone every 6 months ?
I still have my S2 and see no incentive to get a new model. Now, if I really had to buy a new phone, I would choose the HTC One M8 just for that stainless steel look and feel!
With me, I never consider Samsung phones.
I used my iPhone 4 for around 3 years before deciding to jump ship to Android as I got tired of waiting for jailbreaks to come out for each iOS release.
First I used an HTC One and I loved the Android experience on the HTC. The build quality of the handset was beautiful too. Unfortunately I had an accident with it where I only had an ultra thin case (more to protect the phone from scratches than to protect from falls) and I ended up dropping my phone onto a hard marble floor, roughly a 1 metre drop, causing the phone to start having restart issues. But I still loved the phone so kept using it, only to have it restart more and more often to the point of it just constantly restarting without me even touching the phone. I used it for almost a year before giving up. If I had some sort of insurance covering it I would probably still be using it today.
Whilst I was exploring Android, I did find out about a ROM called MIUI which seemed to have a lot of followers. From there, I subsequently found out about the Xiaomi Mi3 and bought it as I loved the design and specs of it. It was even faster than my HTC and that was already more than fast enough. I did pay a premium to get the Mi3 imported but it was worth it. OTOH, the bezels of the phone did it make it quite unyieldly so I told myself, if the Mi4 had 3GB RAM, a smaller width/height and a nicer design, I would get it, and here I am with my Mi4. Although the Mi4 does resemble an iPhone very closely, I love the design. It's probably why I stuck with my iPhone 4 for so long.
I really dislike Samsung's Touch Wiz UI, it's really clunky, outdated and horrible IMO. Stock android is decent, but IMO, it's still a little outdated. That's why when I saw MIUI 6, I was really happy. I'm not going to deny they're pretty much copying iOS, but personally that's what I like. The design of Apple but the easy customisability of Android with no faffing around rooting and such (Xiaomi phones are rooted already).
If I were to get a phone that was sold in the UK, my short list would be similar to crossy's, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, LG G3 or HTC M8. The Samsung is simply too plain looking and loaded with tons of features (read. bloat) that I have no interest in.
The decision for me was pretty simple though - I didn't like the buttons being on screen only, nor did I want to pay the price of what Sony, LG or HTC were asking hence I went for the Mi4. Not to mention, it was the smallest 5.0" highend phone (if you can call it that) - in width and height at least. (Although I just googled the Nexus 5 and found it was smaller but not a fan of the Nexus phone designs at all)
£250-300 for similar hardware - Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.5Ghz, 3GB RAM, Android 4.4.4, 5" 1080p IPS screen, Sony IMX214 f1.8 13MP back camera, f1.8 8MP front camera, 3080mAh battery. That pretty much sealed the deal for me. Whilst specs are only half the story, to me, the difference between Xiaomi and all the other phone companies is that Xiaomi provide software updates. I've heard of companies like Oppo, Elephone, iOcean, Meizu etc all producing phones with nice specs, but where they fall short is the software. I did have an issue with the Mi3 where one of the weekly updates introduced slow battery charging, but it wasn't long before the next weekly update solved that issue.
Of course, the Mi4 doesn't come without faults - it has to be imported, meaning no real warranty, no NFC, no 4G, no microSD slot, no optical image stabiliser (AFAIK) and the MIUI market apps being in Chinese (although you won't be using it anyway, outside of China we thankfully have the Play store). Another design element I don't like personally is that there is only a single speaker grill at the bottom - in the rare occasions that I play games at home using the phone speakers, my hand will cover that place most of the time.
Unfortunately, if the Mi5 covers the NFC, 4G, microSD slot, OIS and speaker niggle whilst keeping the same design, I probably would end up suckering up and getting it.
I probably sound like a Xiaomi fanboy, but for me, the phone is a very good compromise, for most users on Hexus, the lack of 4G and microSD is probably enough to push them away.
Once I sell my iPad Mini Retina, I'm going to be getting a Xiaomi MiPad. (Kind of unrelated...)
Last edited by Ulti; 07-10-2014 at 04:14 PM.
Ulti, you can not compare Xiaomi to Samsung. Samsung is a global company so has to pay license fees and fight legal patent battles all over the place. Xiaomi don't have to do that so they can offer a much cheaper product (there's probably other forces at play) so I doubt they will ever venture outside of the Asian market.
Ulti (07-10-2014)
Most people tend to keep their phone now for 18 to 24 months.
Smartphones from 2 years ago still perform really well and are more than capable for 99% of the population.
Only hardcore upgraders who have more money than sense and who must have the latest gadget do so on a yearly (or more) basis.
Smartphones are now hitting that plateau in sales that PCs have.... just sooner.
Just from my experience with Samsung: Bloatware that's not un-installable, excruciatingly slow to release phone updates (or if ever), laggy performance, poorly written software both on the phone and desktop supplement.
Their phones look really dated, the S5 seems to be morphing back into the old S2 design, they could really do with a redesign and rebrand.
Like HTC and Nokia before them their top spot has come to an end.
Not sure what to go for next...
I like the look of the Lenovo phones but they've only got one Kitkat model at the moment, and I'm not so sure I want to go bigger than a 5" screen. I'm guessing they're about to come out with some new kit along with their current Vibe flagship as all the others are JB based.
Whilst that is true, the same also applies to HTC, LG and Sony. Tbh, I'm surprised Samsung performed the best out of them, and even more surprised HTC is the one that's most in trouble financially.
I wonder how HTC is doing this year, as IIRC, HTC were making a loss?
I think until Android L comes out we can only guess, because major version numbers tend to skew the landscape a bit. I wouldn't want to spend big bucks right now on a 32 bit phone for example.
There are also a generation of people such as myself who simply don't see the point in upgrading and ending up on increasingly expensive contracts. I'm now Sim Free and will purchase a new handset when mine is no longer viable and when 64bit android is established. U
"Samsung has been out-classed, notably by Apple's iPhone releases,"
Right - of course Apple.... Guess the LG G2, G3 , HTC M8, Sony Z2 or Z3 didn't by chance outclass the Samsung's offerings.
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