Samsung says Galaxy S9 under-performed, prepares for early Galaxy Note 9 release
A leaked press render supposedly depicting the Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
- Samsung has published its second-quarter 2018 earnings figures.
- The report touches on Galaxy S9 sales, folding phones, and the company's midrange lineup.
- Samsung says the S9 faced tough competition and it intends to release the Galaxy Note 9 early to give it a better chance.
Samsung has released its Q2 2018 earnings results, confirming speculation regarding several of its flagship phone developments. The company touched on sluggish Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus sales, and the upcoming release of the Galaxy Note 9, in the report released earlier today.
Speculation that Samsung's Galaxy S9 was under-performing arrived earlier in July, where its flagship was said to be lagging behind the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S7 in terms of sales. In the earnings report, Samsung attributed part of the "slow sales" to the "stagnant high-end smartphone market" — something which we've talked about before.
Meanwhile, Samsung said it would respond to mobile competition in the second half of the year with the "early introduction of the Galaxy Note" (it will likely beat out major phone launches from the likes of Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi). This will be Samsung's second major flagship of 2018 and much has been said about it already. Samsung will unveil the phone on August 9, but it's yet to confirm the exact release date.
Typically, this would be several weeks after the reveal and it was suspected this year to be August 24 (last year's Note 8 landed August 23). Could Samsung release the Note 9 mere days after launch? It's possible.
Samsung also said the Galaxy Note 9 would arrive at a "reasonable price," but, well, it would say that, right?
More leaked Samsung Galaxy Note 9 renders.
Also from the earnings report, Samsung confirmed its work on foldable displays in the second half of the year. We don't know exactly in what capacity, but Samsung said it was "seeking new growth drivers" with regard to these screens. It has been reported that Samsung is soon putting them into production, for itself and possibly other OEMs too. It's a further indication that the company will launch its first foldable smartphone next year.
Finally, Samsung also touched on making its mid- and low-end models more competitive with new features. We suspect this could relate to the triple cameras and in-display fingerprint scanners we've recently been hearing about, which may appear on the next Galaxy A series.
Overall, the report didn't touch on much we hadn't already heard but at least we know we can rely (somewhat) on the Samsung rumors we're hearing.
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