A report from the Korean publication ETNews says that Samsung has, for the first time in their history, cut orders for smartphone production. They say Samsung plans on making 6.5 million GS4 units in July, which is half the number they made in May. Future monthly production figures have allegedly been slashed between 10% and 15%. Furthermore, the piece says Samsung is going to retire the Galaxy S III prematurely in order to focus on newer hardware.
Is this Samsung’s Nokia N95 moment? For those who remember 2007, the Nokia N95 put the Finnish company on top of the world, but then a year later, when the N96 came out, people couldn’t care less. A year after that, when the N97 came out to compete with the iPhone and Android, it was universally detested.
Now I’m not suggesting that the Galaxy S4 is a piece of garbage, because it isn’t, and I frankly want one, but I’m starting to believe it represents the end of the road for flagships. And not just from Samsung, but from everyone. There are only so many people on this planet who can afford $700 smartphones. And a significant portion of those who have the money don’t even want to spend that much on a handset because they don’t see the point.
I’m not suggesting that smartphones have reached saturation, because that couldn’t be further from the truth, I’m merely pointing out that it’s time companies like Samsung, HTC, even Apple, focus on providing incredibly robust $300 to $400 devices for the rest of the world.
That’s where the real growth is.