Samsung has named all of its smartphones since 2009 with the ‘Galaxy’ name, but that could be set to change. According to a new report, the world’s best-selling Android manufacturer is considering rebranding some of its Galaxy line up to better differentiate its high-end premium devices.
Korean news outlet E-Today said Samsung “is said to be studying various ideas for changing or adding smartphone brands, as well as the pros and cons of launching new brands”, and that this is “interpreted as a strategy to strengthen its premium image by segmenting the Galaxy brand”.
It’s thought Samsung is looking into rebranding some of its Galaxy phones, possibly its Galaxy S and Galaxy Z series, to indicate to customers in a competitive market that they are flagship, desirable devices. The report states Samsung feels it is losing out to the iPhone, which, apart from the iPhone SE, is a brand that indicates a premium phone offering.
Samsung brands all of its Android smartphones with the Galaxy name, from the £1,749 Galaxy Z Fold 6 down to its incredibly cheap Galaxy A and M series. The Galaxy A01, for example, costs about £139 at the time of writing from Amazon, while the Galaxy M13 costs about £149.
Stats show that the iPhone dominates sales amongst younger generations in Samsung’s key markets of the US and Korea, its home country. After its unprecedented publication of an open letter of apology to customers and shareholders by its Korean arm, acknowledging a “crisis”. The firm appears to be exploring different ways to market its high-end products and potentially rebrand.
“The performance that fell short of market expectations has raised concerns about the fundamental technological competitiveness and the future of the company,” Samsung said earlier this month.
“We will definitely make the serious situation we are currently facing into an opportunity for a leap forward. Our management will take the lead in overcoming the crisis.”
Most companies would not consider Samsung’s mobile division’s position as the market leader in Android globally as a crisis. But the apology and this new report suggests the company wants to take on the iPhone.
Express.co.uk awarded the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra a rare five star review on its release in January, though we felt its latest foldables, the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, were quite iterative and expensive updates that didn’t change much from previous models.
That said, most top tier phones in 2024 don’t add many exciting or genuinely new features over their predecessors, hence the mobile industry’s new obsession with AI. Galaxy AI and Apple Intelligence, from Samsung and Apple respectively, are software tools that offer new and older phones new features in an attempt to differentiate from the competition and give customers interesting and fun new ways to use their phones.
