Samsung launched its Galaxy S5 smartphone on April 11 in some 125 countries, including Canada. While the company has yet to provide any hard numbers, it appears that its latest smartphone is flying off the shelves. Speaking to Reuters, Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung’s product strategy team, said, “(The S5) is selling faster than the S4 so far, though it’s difficult to share specific numbers as we’re still at early stages.”
Last year, Samsung sold more than 10 million Galaxy S4 smartphones in the first month it was available. Yoon predicts that “S5 sales should be much better than the S4,” suggesting that it will take even less time for the Galaxy S flagship to surpass that milestone.
While the Galaxy S5 sports a faster processor, a better camera and a new water resistant capability, Samsung also focused more on the software side. It comes with a new “Ultra Power Saving Mode” meant to prolong battery life and more attention to the apps and services that users truly want. In the end, the Galaxy S5 shipped with 10 fewer apps installed than the Galaxy S4. “We decided not to put in so many things and only include what the user really needs, so I cut out a lot of services and software,” explained Yoon.
Yoon also told Reuters that Samsung will launch its first Tizen smartphone, a high-end model, in Q2. A mid-range model will follow sometime later to help broaden the reach of Tizen. Samsung will focus on “a few countries where we can do well.” Yoon added that Samsung will only consider Tizen a success if it can account for at least 15 percent of total smartphone shipments but failed to give a time line by which it hopes to reach this mark.
Samsung already promised to launch Tizen smartphones over a year ago. Delays and a lack of carrier support has proven to be a challenge and it remains to be seen if Samsung will be able to establish the new operating system as an alternative to Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
Despite dropping Android for its latest generation of Gear smartwatches, Yoon also confirmed that Samsung will return to the fold later this year with an Android Wear smartwatch.
Source : Reuters