Samsung, the mighty Korean smartphone giant, is falling fast. The company is aiming to do whatever it takes to jump back to profitable ways. Competition is growing, which means it is getting even more difficult to control the market in ways it would prefer.
The biggest threat right now to Samsung's dominance in the market place is not Google, Apple, or Microsoft, but the upcoming Chinese powerhouse, Xiaomi. This company from China is still small compared to Samsung, but it is growing fast, and not to mention, Xiaomi is the largest smartphone maker in China.
In the coming months, Xiaomi is aiming to launch in 10 additional markets around the world, a move that could undoubtedly increase the company's market share outside of China, and one that may cause more problems for Samsung.
What is Samsung planning to do?
We understand that the Korean giant desperately wants to return its smartphone business back to profitable ways, but this will take some doing. The plan here is to compete strongly from the low-end and mid-range sections of the market with cheap and capable devices.
"The mid- to low-end market is growing rapidly, and we plan to respond actively in order to capitalize on that growth," Samsung senior vice president Kim Hyun-joon said during a conference call with analysts.
It won't be easy for Samsung since several Chinese and Indian companies are taking over the lower end spectrum of the market. In addition, since many of these companies are small, they are able to sell devices a lot cheaper compared to Samsung.
What the Korean giant is going through right now is very rough, as profits for the mobile division fell by a whopping 73.9 percent in the third quarter of 2014. A sure clear sign that Samsung is in trouble is the fact that the company failed to launch a new flagship smartphone for the whole quarter.
At the end of the day, we don't expect Samsung to return to the position it once held in the smartphone market. Increased pressure from Xiaomi and Apple is expected to cause problems for the company in the coming years.
In all honesty, we could be witnessing the collapse of a giant, but don't expect a fall similar to that of Nokia or BlackBerry.
