More than a month after their international release, Samsung has launched the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in China. To make up for the delay, Samsung will be selling a premium variant of the Galaxy S8+ in China with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage.
The Galaxy S8 has been priced at 5,688 yuan ($825), while the Galaxy S8+ is priced at 6,188 yuan ($900). The S8+ variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage has been priced at 6,988 yuan ($1015).
Samsung has partnered with local Chinese companies like Tencent and iQiyi to offer local content to its Chinese customers. Additionally, the company also announced that its virtual assistant, Bixby, will gain support for the Chinese language in June.
“China has been an important market for Samsung Electronics for 25 years since we entered the market in 1992. Samsung will provide the best mobile experience for Chinese consumers through Galaxy S8 series,” said Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile communications business, at a launching event in Beijing.
A lot depends on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ for Samsung. The company has been rapidly losing market share in the country which was further worsened by the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. At one point of time, Samsung was the market leader in China, but its market share is now in low single digits in the country. The company’s mid-range and flagship offerings have been unable to counteract the offerings from local Chinese OEMs like Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo who have been growing at a rapid pace in the country.
With the specs that the Galaxy S8 packs and its Infinity Edge display, it’s likely that Samsung has a winner in its handset this time around. However, it remains to be seen if these two handsets will be enough to stop Samsung’s market share from dwindling in China or not.
[Via Korea Herald]