Galaxy s8 smart phone will be the flagship of Samsung this year. It will be launched around April. I’m going to analyze it’s entry timing in the future by the model of porter’s 5 forces.
Suppliers: Samsung always maintains good relationship with suppliers. Like its battery would still be provided by Samsung SDI Co., one of the two suppliers blamed for s7’s accident. Here the supplier is also a company owned by Samsung. However, what matters now is not the bargaining power of supplier but the reputation of supplier. Will consumers still have faith in the same supplier who made explosive battery for Galaxy s7? This may be a main reason if Galaxy s8 doesn’t sell well after launched.
Buyers: as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, s7’s accident had a great impact on Samsung’s reputation. No matter the former users or potential consumers, all of them still remember the explosive accident. Although it has been like a year till now, Samsung should still emphasize on the safety issue and give out apology and promise at its release. There are still old loyal consumers of Samsung, so focus on the potential ones and the loss ones since the accident.
Rivalry: the biggest rival of Samsung is Apple. Compared to iphone7, Galaxy s8 can be viewed as a notable follower while iphone7 plays the role of first mover. As first mover, apple has claimed a large part of the market with many loyal users, who would find it hard to switch to Android phones. However, Samsung still has some follower advantages. Take its new virtual assistant Bixby as example, after fully research on its rival’s siri, Samsung can probably build a more intellectual one based on the existing technology. All what siri can do is out there, but no one knows what Bixby can do. This is one important point that can surpass customer’s expectation and generate buying inclination. Also, Samsung can take the lesson from objections to apple canceling earphone jack and retain them. This would help them win back the users that don’t really like apple’s new design.
However apple’s 10 year anniversary iphone8 is going to launch in September, five months after Galaxy s8. This will be a turnover in the game that makes Galaxy s8 first mover and iphone8 the follower. So Samsung should also anticipate what new fancy technology will be used in iphone8 and develop it right now, like rim-less screen，wireless charging, 3-d camera and so on.
New entrants: Oppo and Vivo are 2 strong new Chinese brand. These are insane new rivals.They just got in the market for several years, and now they are ranked no.4 and no.5 in global smart phone market. Their strategy is to open offline chain stores as many as possible in all second-tier and third-tier cities, where customers believe in tangible phones in stores rather and the ones on Internet. Also, selling does much better job than marketing here. Moreover, the competition of big brands like apple, Samsung and Huawei is not in here. This is the very place that breed and nurture these two insane brands. Samsung has to be careful. People in first-tier cities have high purchase power, but 80% of the population are in second-tier and third-tier cities. This is the market that Samsung should consider penetrating in.
Substitutes: smart phone may not have real substitutes in several decades.
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