After S8, Note8 suffered another Waterloo. Chinese users have no reason to pay for Samsung phones anymore.

Although South Korean electronics giant Samsung has been experiencing great success recently, not only did it surpass Apple in terms of quarterly net profit for the first time, but it even successfully surpassed Apple's iPhone in market share in the United States for three months with its Galaxy series of products, becoming the number one mobile phone manufacturer in the region.

S8 doesn’t work, and Note8 doesn’t work either!

Samsung S8 is one of the most representative Android flagship phones this year. From the perspective of the global market, the total sales volume of the series has exceeded 20 million units and it is also an extremely successful product. However, it is not a successful product in the Chinese market.

According to data from relevant industry research reports, Samsung's domestic market share in the second quarter of this year was only 3%. This ratio means that Samsung's mobile phone shipments will not exceed 5 million. As for the main flagship S8, many media reported some time ago that its actual domestic sales were only about 300,000.

S8 has suffered a Waterloo, so can the newly launched Note8 be the savior? Unfortunately, it is not.

Although it is still in the pre-sale stage for new products, judging from the pre-sale situation on the two major domestic e-commerce platforms, JD.com and Suning, as of 10 p.m. on September 18, the Samsung Note8 model with the best pre-sale status had no more than 1,500 units, and the model with the worst pre-sale status had less than 100 units, which is a world of difference from some domestic mobile phones that are out of stock even in a rush.

Domestic mobile phones are bucking the trend, Samsung's problems are much more serious than Apple's

Judging from the second quarter Chinese smartphone market share data report released by Counterpoint, domestic brands, mainly Huawei and OPPO, have already trampled on many foreign brands. Sharing the same fate as Samsung's 3% market share is Apple's domestic market share, which is now less than 9%.

But this doesn't mean that Apple and Samsung have the same problems in the market.

First, according to a report released by the Korea International Trade Association in early September, the iPhone's user base in China still surpasses all other brands, reaching 171 million. The user bases of the Chinese local mobile phone brands ranked 2-4 also exceeded 100 million respectively. In comparison, Samsung has less than 50 million users in this project, ranking sixth.

In addition, in the market share of various models in China's high-end smartphone market in the first quarter of 2017 released by Counterpoint, Apple's iPhone firmly occupied half of the top ten seats, and even controlled more than 70% of the market for mobile phones priced above 4,000 yuan with only four products under the iPhone 7 series. This means that Apple, with a small market share, has quite amazing product profits. At the same time, Samsung only had one model, the S7 Edge, in the top ten, with a market share of less than 3.5%.

What’s even more frightening is that Counterpoint’s report also mentioned that even in China, more than half of iPhone users would choose to buy an iPhone again. This proportion can reach as high as 1/4 for mainstream Chinese local brands. Unfortunately, the proportion of Samsung users who choose to buy Samsung phones again is only a pitiful 7.2%.

Does Samsung mobile phone still have a future in the country since it cannot compete with Apple?

The smoke from the Note7 battery explosion incident has not yet completely dissipated, and coupled with the special feelings of ordinary domestic consumers towards Korean brands in recent times, Samsung mobile phones have fallen into a dilemma in China: "unable to challenge Apple in the high-end market, and unable to grab market share from domestic brands."

Samsung's remaining brand halo can hardly support the high selling price, especially at the current stage. Samsung's upstream supply chain strength is also difficult to bring enough differentiated competitiveness to its products under the situation of smartphone homogeneity. Curved screens and full screens are already common on domestic mobile phones.

Just as in the new mobile phone trend in September this year, the domestic price of Samsung Note8 is close to that of Apple iPhone X. The final result may only lead more consumers to choose domestic mobile phones with better cost performance.

Even in May this year, Samsung took the initiative to change its leadership for the Chinese market, appointing Kwon Gui-hyun as President of Samsung Greater China, and admitted that Samsung was lagging behind in localization.

However, in the first half of 2017, Samsung's mobile phone sales in China's offline market had plummeted by 65.8%. The release rhythm of its new Note 8 in China was still similar to that of last year's Note 7, which was to "copy Apple's new product". Compared with the various marketing methods of domestic mobile phones, Samsung's self-revolution was too small.

Chinese consumers already have too many better or more cost-effective choices when it comes to smartphones. It is understandable that the Note 8 and other Samsung phones are not favored by more domestic users.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.