Samsung's pricing bet on the Galaxy S21 is paying off
The Galaxy S21 series could prove to be Samsung's most popular S range in recent years.
Sales of the Galaxy S20 series were so dismal that it has been discontinued in some markets. Although the performance was blamed on the pandemic, it's no secret that the high prices of the S20 phones were off-putting.
Sales of the Galaxy S series have been declining in Samsung's home turf since the Galaxy S8 and the situation hasn't been much different in other markets.
The Galaxy S21 phones have a $200 lower starting price than their predecessors and this appears to be reversing the the downward trajectory, according to a report out today from South Korea.
Analytics firm Atlas Research & Consulting estimates that as of the fourth week of launch, Samsung had sold 590,000 units of the S21 series. Although this is still below Galaxy S8's sales of 620,000 units during a comparable period, it is 1.5 to 2 times higher than S20's sales.
Samsung had previously said that the first week sales of the Galaxy S21 were 30 percent higher than the S20 in South Korea. In the UK, pre-orders exceeded the demand for the Galaxy S20 and S10.
In addition to the relative affordability of the new flagships, campaigns launched by carriers to win 5G subscribers also seem to have helped. Though not mentioned in the report, the earlier than usual launch of the smartphones might have been a factor too.
The base model, which starts at $800, seems to be the most popular of the lot, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the sales. Last year's Galaxy S20 made up 30 percent of total shipments.
The last quarter of 2020 wasn't good enough for Samsung to maintain its dominance over Apple and it remains to be seen if the S21 series will help it reclaim the throne.
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