Ashish Pratap Singh wonders if Samsung will meet the same fate as Nokia?
Samsung has been in the news lately for both good and bad reasons.
Recent reports indicated that not only had Samsung been surpassed in smartphone shipments in China by Xiaomi but that Micromax had effectively captured the top mobile phone market share slot in India.
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Counterpoint Research indicated that Micromax's market share was at 17 per cent with Samsung in second place behind it.
In terms of overall smartphone sales, Samsung was still on top at 25.3 per cent market share but Micromax still occupied the second place slot at 19 per cent.
To top it off, two-thirds of the mobile phone market and half of smartphone shipments in India are taken up by local brands.
Xiaomi doesn't appear to be losing momentum in China either despite a recent fine slapped against it for exaggerating smartphone sales.
This news hasn't dented Samsung's capabilities as a smartphone manufacturer at all but it's significant enough to get tongues wagging.
Though it's surprising that a smartphone king like Samsung could be upstaged by relatively smaller brands -- despite the fact that Micromax is now recognised as the tenth largest handset brand in the world -- it's not unexpected.
This can be traced back to a long line of odd decisions that Samsung has made over the years which put it directly in line with a competitor it despised, namely Apple.
Beginning of the rivalry
In 2011, Micromax was just beginning to stretch its legs.
It had introduced several budget handsets and a few smartphones but still lacked the slam-dunk product that would help it break through.
Samsung had released the Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note at the time, and was enjoying excellent profits.
Many heralded Samsung as the premium Android alternative to Apple's iPhone which was seemingly growing stagnant with each year.
However, in 2011 end, the Micromax Canvas HD A116 happened.
Samsung had been known primarily for its mid-tier and upper-tier smartphones but it announced it would be entering the budget segment with its Galaxy Grand series.
Though many budget Samsung mobiles existed well before this, the Galaxy Grand was the company's first shot at delivering premium specifications in an affordable package.
The Canvas HD completely upstaged the Galaxy Grand, releasing earlier and featuring an HD screen with a quad core processor.
Whether Samsung would admit it or not, Micromax has one-upped it and has never looked back since.
In 2012, Samsung didn't falter.
In fact, it had two of its biggest successes with the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2.
Micromax continued to churn out products, venturing into different segments like budget phablets and devices that retailed for less than Rs 7,000.
From 2013 onwards, Samsung released the Galaxy S4 and suddenly the tides began to shift.
The Galaxy S4 wasn't a very big improvement over its predecessor and though it was a compelling smartphone overall -- featuring Samsung's first octa-core processor -- it would be a sign of things to come.
Samsung also failed to capitalise on its early success with tablets.
The Galaxy Note tablets weren't exactly setting the world on fire.
Samsung and Nokia
Meanwhile, Samsung began releasing a ton of budget handsets, each seemingly similar to the other and with no discerning features.
Though Micromax took the same route, it slowly introduced better hardware including 1080p displays for less than Rs 18,000.
It even managed to incorporate aluminium chassis designs into its budget smartphones, something that was unheard of at the time.
On the other hand, in 2014, Samsung released the Galaxy S5 and has been dealing with falling sales despite strong shipments.
It's having a hard time competing with the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5S, devices which both released in late 2013.
The Galaxy S5 meanwhile has been out since May 2014.
In many ways, Samsung's decisions are somewhat beginning to mirror Nokia's before it was purchased by Microsoft.
Nokia had universal success with its feature phones but failed to capitalise on the smartphone market.
When it finally did, it was in association with Microsoft which used the Lumia series as a platform to introduce its Windows Phone OS series.
Nokia did attempt Android devices later but the acquisition of its Devices and Services division by Microsoft put a damper on those plans.
Overall, Nokia showed stubbornness in evolving when consumer preference began to shift.
When it finally did, it attempted to do so while remaining in contention with established hardware brands and mobile operating systems alike.
The final result is that Nokia, once India's most recognised mobile phone, occupies a measly 4 per cent of smartphone shipments in India for the past quarter.
Through the looking glass
Samsung hasn't reached the point where it's refusing to evolve just yet.
Even with all the criticism lobbied at the company, there has still been an attempt to offer features at premium prices that you simply won't find in the budget segment.
S Health, fingerprint sensors, dust and water resistance, Super AMOLED technology (which may move to PLS LCD with the Galaxy Note), My Magazine, the S Pen and so on are a few features that the budget smartphone market has yet to capitalise on.
Nonetheless, with Samsung attempting to create its own OS Tizen to break away from Android, it's hard to not see some similarities with Nokia.
This isn't to say that Samsung will go bankrupt or even be acquired by another company (never say never though).
Nokia's downfall came far before its acquisition.
The question is whether Samsung will go back to revolutionising the market with its devices rather than taking on features consumers view as superfluous.
Will it simply follow the pack and do what Apple is doing?
Or will it once again try to stand for the very best that Android devices have to offer?
Whatever it decides, it will need to hurry because companies like Micromax and Xiaomi are adapting and evolving quickly.
If Micromax could achieve such success within a few years and a relatively unknown brand like Xiaomi could become the leading smartphone in China, what could the next few years bring?
Hopefully Samsung sees the writing on the wall before then.
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