South Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics has expressed its delight at how their new Galaxy S8 flagship series smartphone has been initially received by consumers. There had been fears amongst Samsung executives and stakeholders that the Galaxy Note 7 debacle last year would impact negatively on the new S8. However, it seems that consumers are unfazed by the Galaxy Note 7 fires and pre-orders for the S8 have exceeded those of its predecessor.
The S8 is set to go on sale in the US, South Korea and Canada on April 21st – and analysts are predicting that the device will be central to Samsung’s recovery from the swift forced withdrawal of the Note 7 in October last year. The device has been well received by both analysts and investors – with many suggesting the S8 could represent a first-year sales record for the global smartphone giant.
Mobile Business Chief, Koh Dong-jin confirmed that the organization were delighted at the response so far, but did remain cautious offering a reminder that it was still very early days. He said: "It's still a bit early, but initial response to the pre-orders that have begun at various places across the world have been better than expected.”
Samsung’s latest device is set to be the safest smartphone ever created due to the safety measures they had to implement in the S8 in an attempt to avoid the battery failures that caused some Note 7’s to go on fire and in some instances self-combust. Stakeholders will be further boosted by the news that many analysts expect the South Korean firm to record its best-ever quarterly profit in April-June – which will be buoyed by S8 sales. In addition to this, a memory chip market boom that will deliver record revenue for the industry will further strengthen Samsung’s finances.
Samsung’s S8 has won acclaim with consumers due to its design and comes equipped with either a 5.8 inch or 6.2 inch curved screen – in fact it’s the largest screens to date among all of Samsung’s flagship phones due to a redesign. Koh also disclosed that Samsung intends to use the S8 in an effort to recover in China. It has been dislodged from the top five vendors in the region as a result of heightened competition from local rivals such as Huawei. He concluded by stating that Samsung aims to regain market share in China, but didn’t elaborate on how or what strategies it would implement in order to achieve this.
