The U.S. sanctions against Huawei have sent the Chinese phone maker into a downward spiral with no clear exit on the horizon, and customers are simply losing their appetite for the company’s otherwise magnificent devices. This creates a big market gap, as Huawei was one of the biggest and most successful mobile device manufacturers, so other vendors are currently riding a wave of benefits. Of all makers who see significant gains right now, Samsung is the most prominent, and the latest profit forecasts from the company reflect this.
More specifically, the Koreans report a 58% growth in profits compared to a year ago, and the largest operating profit in two years. The estimations for the quarterly profits went up to $10.6 billion, whereas last year, they were $4.5 billion less. Consolidated sales also recorded an upward trend by about 6.5%, reaching 66 trillion. Although no department breakdown was provided, it is clear that Samsung’s Mobile Unit is doing amazingly well.
There are quite a few reasons why Samsung is grabbing what Huawei is inevitably dropping, some objective, others random, and a few very diligently and strategically planned. First, Huawei is a Chinese company, and this leaves Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo in the same circle of customer distrust. People are reluctant to buy phones from these companies because they could follow Huawei’s fate at any time. Samsung is a South Korean brand, so the trade war between Trump and China isn’t affecting them at all.
Related: Google Warns Huawei Owners Not to Side-Load its Software
Secondly, Samsung has been very aggressive lately in terms of how many device models they’ve launched in the global market. They have a device in every price category/range, so they are covering the entire spectrum no matter what the consumer is looking for. That is maybe except for really compact devices.
Thirdly, they are most likely to see Huawei fans picking them versus choosing Apple because the latter would mean converting Android users to the iOS space. This adds difficulty and subtracts the familiarity factor, so Samsung is again in the right position to benefit from the situation.
If we consider that Samsung is making all that money during times of consumer spending tightness, the brand’s success in the mobile field is even more highlighted. If this trend continues, we could soon end up with a two-player smartphone market - which wouldn’t be positive for the consumers, of course.