Expensive Galaxy S6 Fights Apple To Save Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S6 (image: Samsung PR)

Pricing details around the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are starting to come out, with an expected street price in the UK of £550 for the SIM-free Galaxy S6 (and £650 for the Galaxy S6 Edge). While these prices are unconfirmed, they are higher than the entry-level competition of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Arguably the price difference could come down to Samsung running with 32 GB of storage compared to the 16 GB Apple has fitted to the iPhones, but I do like the idea of Samsung exploiting a higher price than Apple. If the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge handsets turn out to be more expensive than the Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, then Samsung will have some powerful arguments available to help sell the device.
It’s worth noting that the profit levels in Samsung’s smartphones division fell drastically last year, including a 60% drop in profits and a lower average selling price per handset. By selling the S6 family at a higher price, the South Korean company can hope to increase the latter measure during 2015, as the lower sales of the S5 coupled with discounted pricing to kickstart the sales will have had a notable impact during 2014.
Last year was perceived as a head-to-head match-up between Samsung and Apple, and a straight fight between the iPhone 5S and the Galaxy S5. With a six month gap between launches, the advantage Samsung had between March and September was squandered before the iPhone 6 came along.
Now the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have the advantage Samsung should push hard on the specifications battle. That will be helped by Apple essentially ducking the numbers fight, so Samsung should be able to play hard on the fact that the S6 is a more powerful phone with more features.
And the easiest way to say that a phone is ‘better’ than another phone is to be more expensive.

BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 02: The Samsung Galaxy S6 at Fira Gran Via for the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona (Photo by Albert Llop/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

There is no law that says that the price of the iPhone is the ceiling on the price of a smartphone. There will always be a segment of the market that will want to pay the lowest price possible, and that’s fine. Leave them to figure out how to import a Xiaomi Mi-4, to get in the order for the OnePlus One, or to look at countless other manufacturers. Make the Galaxy S6 the ‘best handset money can buy’ in the eyes of the consumer (and also in the eyes of retail assistants who will likely be on commission and love a higher priced handset that sells easily) and you have a unique strategy.
Samsung has tried to match the iPhone and failed. Samsung has extensive experience in the mid-range with variants of the flagship Galaxy handsets and it knows that this is not the way to maintain income levels.
Why not go high? Why not try to position the Galaxy S6 with a higher price, a potentially higher margin, and the prospect of higher turnover?
It gives the Galaxy S6 family a different marketing message to push, it offers higher handset margins, and it might just disrupt the market enough to give Samsung a shot at regaining the ‘number one smartphone’ tag that Apple has wrestled from its hands.

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

Posted in: LATEST NEWS