Korean publications citing analytical firm Kiwoom Securities report that Samsung is disappointed with the sales of the Galaxy S21 generation. The early expectations were that the series will be a hit, but that didn’t pan out.
In the first six months of availability, the S21 models have sold a total of 13.5 million units. That is 20% below what the Galaxy S20 generation managed in the same time frame and a whopping 47% less than the S10 generation.
Here’s a chart from Counterpoint Research, which shows the month-by-month sales of Galaxy S series going back to the S5:
During the first month of availability the S21 flagships sold 590,000 units on their home turf in Korea. That was the highest since the Galaxy S8, which moved 620,000 units in the first month. Global sales for the first month were slightly more than 1 million units, the 10 million mark was reached five months after the S21 series launched.
The company is reportedly betting on the Exynos 2200 – the first mobile chipset with an AMD RDNA GPU – to restore interest in the Galaxy S series flagships. This GPU is expected to be 30% faster than the current Mali GPU in the Exynos 2100 and it should beat the Adreno inside the upcoming Snapdragon 898. Of course, real world performance and whether it restores consumer interest in the series are questions for next year.
This year, with no Galaxy Note coming in the second half, Samsung will rely on the new foldables to carry the high end. And Samsung is struggling in the high end.
The company shipped 58 million smartphones in total during Q2 of this year, up from 54 million units the same quarter last year. But if S21 sales faltered, it means the increase came from entry-level and mid-range devices.
Another worry is that Xiaomi is catching up. The maker already surpassed Apple to become the second largest smartphone maker in Q2 with 53 million units sold during the second quarter.
Source 1 | Source 2 (in Korean) | Via