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Galaxy S9 and S9+ shipments surpassed 8 million units in first month of sales
Samsung Galaxy S9 shipments surpassed 8 million units in launch month according to analysts. Despite the Galaxy S9 series being made available in more markets upon release, it appears the new lineup’s appeal was not enough to significantly improve upon last year’s Galaxy S8 launch, according to analysts at Canalys.
As stated by the report, Samsung managed to ship a total of 8 million Galaxy S9 and S9+ units during the first 30 days of sales, a figure that matches the shipments of last year’s Galaxy S8 series. Despite this, however, it appears the dual-camera setup on the Galaxy S9+ has converted the larger variant into the more popular device of the two, which will affect Samsung positively when it comes to total revenue. In addition, of the 8 million shipments, roughly 2.8 million devices were destined to US consumers, while a further 1 million units were intended for South Korea. Nevertheless, the popularity of Samsung’s latest flagships failed to surpass that of its 2016 lineup, which saw the launch of the Galaxy S7 and the larger Galaxy S7 Edge.
This duo of devices managed to achieve over 9 million shipments in their first month of sales back in March 2016 and eventually went on to achieve a total of 48 million device shipments over the course of twelve months. The Galaxy S8 and S8+, on the other hand, reached just 41 million units in their first year of sales. With this year’s flagship lineup, however, the report does expect Galaxy S9 sales to gather pace throughout the rest of the year, reaching a total of roughly 45 million shipments. Unfortunately for Samsung, though, the company’s attempt to increase sales and maintain its market share will come at a cost, with a number of retailers already cutting the price of Galaxy S9 devices, which will ultimately eat away at profits. Nonetheless, the South Korean company is said to be happy with this if it means maintaining its dominant position.
By being forced to cut prices in order to maintain demand, and the increased competition from lower-cost devices, Samsung may not be able to maintain its high prices much longer. After all, smartphones such as Huawei’s P20 Pro offer significant savings over Samsung’s flagships and some even consider these cheaper alternatives to be superior. With the Galaxy Note 9 expected to make its debut towards the end of summer, though, it shouldn't be too long before consumers can see how Samsung chooses to price its future flagship releases in the increasingly tough smartphone market.
