Samsung Has New Strategy For Galaxy Note 9 Following S9 Fiasco

Samsung Electronics is trying to recover after its Galaxy S9 series failed to meet sales expectations in the first half of this year. To ensure that its Galaxy Note 9 phablet won’t suffer the same fate as the first-half flagships, the company is now using a new strategy.

Industry sources told Korea Herald this past Sunday that Samsung has a sales expansion strategy to boost sales of the Note 9 after the lukewarm response to the S9 series. Part of this strategy is setting lower-than-expected prices for the Note 9 models in its home country. Meanwhile, Samsung is offering promos to lure more consumers in the U.S. market.

Given the hardware upgrades such as the Bluetooth-enabled S Pen and the 4,000 mAh battery capacity, many thought that the Note 9 would have higher prices than last year’s Note 8 handsets. Surprisingly, that’s not the case in Samsung’s home turf. The 128GB model is retailing for 1.09 million won or US$965 there, while the 512GB version costs 1.35 million won or US$1,192.

It’s important to point out that last year’s 64GB model of the Galaxy Note 8 was sold with the same price as the new 128GB model of the Note 9. The unchanged pricing for the successor that carries twice the storage space of the predecessor gives consumers the impression that they are getting better value for their money.

Industry watchers claim that Samsung did this so it could focus on expanding the sales volume of the Note 9. If it could sell more Note 9 units, the tech giant could easily make up for the poor sales of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ series in the first half.

“Amid the stagnant growth of the global smartphone market, Samsung seems to be rolling up its sleeves to fuel demand for new phones,” one industry insider told The Investor. “Offering the new high-tech S Pen functions and improved artificial intelligence features at such prices could prevent further falls in smartphones.”

Samsung is using a different approach for the U.S. market however. Instead of selling the Note 9 models at similar prices as before, it is offering promotions that will certainly attract a lot of consumers. The 128GB model has a $999.99 price tag, which is higher than the $929 of the Note 8. But Samsung is still confident that it will be able to sell the new phones because it is offering 50 percent off and “buy one get one free” promotions in partnership with American mobile carriers.

The overall goal of Samsung with its new sales expansion strategy is to ship as many as 12 million units of the Galaxy Note 9. This means it is targeting to make shipments that are about 10 percent higher than what the Note 8 managed to achieve last year.