Inspire the World, Create the Future.
For Smartphone Users.
Gap 1: SAMSUNG’s Ride with the Decade of Disillusion of Post 2010s’
The title of “How the Smartphone Became Boring” splashed across Vice.com’s headlines, summariznig where smartphones get a lot less impressive as they are everywhere – morphing from technological innovation to standard component.
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Smartphones reigned supreme in the 2009s where iPhones first released the iOS version in 2007, followed by its supplier-turned-competitor of Samsung that released its android version in 2009 which launched a thermonuclear war between the brands. Both brands went head on head over their reign over their respective platforms, Samsung over android, and iPhone over the iOS.
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However, shortly thereafter in 2013, tech media stalwarts have recognized that the era of smartphone commodification has begun. 10 years of a dizzying pace of industry clockspeed in smartphones manufacturing permeads a sense of disillusionment, and the industry riddled with scandals after scandals of data breaches, flagship explosion, bendgate”, “antennagate,” which eventually brought about the unfolding of the ultra-costly Galaxy Fold, and caused Samsung to delay the launch of its industry spec bump.
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Maybe to be truly innovative in a commodified and crowded marketplace – and to be a beacon of hope in this age of dillusionment amidst Covid-19 and tradewars -- Samsung must really consider accepting that it is finally time to look for innovative ideas somewhere else in the smartphone experience. It would need to return to the core of its brand’s motto: #dowhatyoucant
Gap 2: SAMSUNG’s Image
Samsung’s image did not do well over this decade – and perhaps this is a product of the ebb and flow of worldwide currents.
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With news of its flagship phone exploding and its foldable phone breaking apart too easily, at the least, consumers may be left disillusioned and unimpressed; at the most, consumers would be unforgiving after one too many failures (e.g. Nestle’s coffee machines fiasco in the decades from the late 80s to the 90s.
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From the survey we conducted, most of the respondents who currently uses the Samsung phone enjoys the usability and good capacity at a value-for-money price point. However, it does seem that they do not have much loyalty to the brand – and would change phones if something better come up in this very commodified market.
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As such, it is food for thought for Samsung’s brand managers to try to bring the brand within the customers’ mindshare via a good purpose (as opposed to its previous infamous technological failure track record).
Gap 3: SAMSUNG’S Myriad of Android Competitors
Currently, while Huawei fell off the major competitive threat bandwagon being caught in the centre of the US-China trade wars, there are various promising competitors in the market with huge funding (Xiaomi’s IPO), big market share in nearby jurisdictions (e.g. XiaoMi’s prevalence in India), and products that have a much more value-for-money offerings. Based on the respondents’ feedback via our quantitative survey, it is indeed a very crowded market, and Samsung could not be too comfortable in its 2nd position because there are so many competitors trailing very closely to its approximately 20% marketshare.
Perhaps to cut through the noise, Samsung need to consider a louder messaging via Brand Activism, bringing #dowhatyoucant to greater heights (and not just trying to launch the bestest and newests).
Gap 4: Future Trends and Innovation
Currently, our team has determined that there is a huge potentiality of a digital disruption to the world which hinges on the outcomes of the COVID-19 economic impacts and the socio-political instability in the US that is felt worldwide. Additionally, our diary tracking respondents were highly dependant on their mobile phones in their work / business – without these devices, it would be likely that in a best case scenario that they would be less efficient in work-life continuum (i.e. our department manager); while on a worst case scenario, the lack of such device would render the individual jobless (i.e. our online marketing executive).
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This would come with various scenario – however Samsung must be mindful about the widening digital and economical divide that would be present post COVID-19. Again, we have observed that Samsung is in the best position to bring its brand leadership in the new world, as it is the leader of the android players, while having a value chain that ranges across various industries, products, and services in its chaebol capacity.