The Samsung phone that even Do Min Joon can’t save

When Samsung mobile phones were frequently exposed by the media for quality issues, as a rational Virgo user, I would never follow the crowd and add insult to injury. I would just say lightly that the quality is okay, but a little slow.

Of course, we can tolerate the slowness, which is not a big deal. We are strong enough to survive on earth even if we are criticized as five-nut mooncakes. Virgos are calmer than you can imagine, and we have the strongest endurance among the 12 constellations.

However, shortcomings are shortcomings after all. Please don’t forget that we are also the champions of efficiency, so there is a limit to our tolerance for slowness. Just as time is merciless and makes people grow old, I can’t stop my phone from “aging” quickly. That kind of “aging” and slowness have made me deeply realize the despair and powerlessness of using my life to refresh the screen…

Just like that, when I could no longer bear it, I declared a Samsung Galaxy Note2 dead, and its brothers and sisters were also implicated and eliminated from the game. If you ask me if it is dead, I will tell you that it is still alive, but it is alive as if it is dead.

Isn't this just complaining without reason? Isn't it just a new phone? Is it really that serious? As for, these days, even Wang Sicong has to go online to buy a computer desk for 200 yuan. Can't I, a genuine loser, complain a little more about a phone that cost 4,000 or 5,000 yuan? What's even more tragic is that I chose to pay in installments. Now the phone is no longer usable, and I still have to pay the money back.

Even Do Min Joon can't save me

I cannot and dare not jump to conclusions about the quality issues of Samsung mobile phones, because there are tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of Samsung mobile phone users, and I cannot ask every user about their experience.

However, in my circle of friends, the complaints about Samsung phones are like a torrent of water, endless and real. I am so tired of typing them out that even as a kind-hearted person I feel a little sorry for Samsung.

"Samsung is indeed slow." "Samsung is a power hog." "Samsung often freezes and restarts." "My Samsung is not slow, but I don't know where the 35% battery went when I woke up." "Last week I couldn't stand the slow speed of Samsung and replaced it." "Samsung is just slow, it's so frustrating." "My S3 was fine before charging, but it became a brick after charging."

In fact, as early as October last year, CCTV exposed the various quality problems of Samsung mobile phones three times in a row. In terms of software, the pre-installed software cannot be deleted through normal channels; in terms of hardware, the multimedia memory card has defects, causing frequent crashes; in terms of after-sales service, screen repairs are extremely profitable, and after-sales repairs in China implement "double standards between China and foreign countries".

According to a smartphone survey released by iMedia Research, Samsung phones ranked first among "mobile phone brands with quality problems" with a figure of 37.6%. Among the users who had quality problems such as freezing, restarting or not being able to start up, 32.3% were Samsung phone users. The survey also showed that Samsung phones' more serious quality problems also include "frequency gate", "noise gate", "font gate", and screen cracks.

Of course, there are so many complaints, and it is also related to the large number of Samsung mobile phone users. About two years ago, we all felt that the great Samsung company had the potential to surpass Apple, quickly occupy the smart phone market, and leap to the first place in market share. A large number of Apple fans around us took advantage of the lack of successors to Apple to change to Samsung phones. However, I changed to Samsung by accident, just because my iPhone fell into the toilet, and Galaxy Note2 was just launched at that time, so I took the opportunity to buy one.

This wave of "Samsung fever" probably lasted less than two years. At present, many people in this wave have already changed their Samsung phones or are about to change them. Because there is no other way, even the spokespersons of Samsung mobile phones can't stand it and complain about it.

According to foreign media reports, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 product spokesperson and famous NBA star LeBron James publicly complained about Samsung mobile phone products on Twitter in March this year.

James wrote on Twitter: "My phone just deleted everything. One of the worst things that has ever happened to me in my life."

Perhaps after sending this message, James was informed by his agent that he was also the spokesperson for Samsung products, so James deleted the message soon after. However, this message has already been forwarded and liked by a large number of people. James has nearly 12 million fans.

In fact, this is not the first time that Samsung has encountered embarrassing product public relations incidents. Previously, foreign media have repeatedly exposed the incidents in which Samsung spokespersons were found to have used iPhones to send messages praising Samsung phones.

In recent years, Samsung has been trying to increase its market share through celebrity endorsements, and has spent a lot of money in this regard. Just last year, Samsung's advertising and marketing expenses reached 14 billion US dollars. What a concept! It is higher than the annual GDP of Iceland, a small Nordic country.

Korean dramas and Korean drama stars are important marketing platforms for Samsung. It is said that as long as Korean dramas exist, Samsung exists. Almost every important character has a Samsung phone. As long as Korean dramas are alive, will Samsung phones really live forever? I don't think so. If the product has quality defects, no matter how good the publicity is, it will be abandoned. For example, after I complained about Samsung phones in my circle of friends, not a single Korean drama fan said a good word for Samsung.

According to media reports, a consumer who likes Korean dramas encountered a series of quality and maintenance problems after purchasing a Samsung mobile phone, and was ridiculed by netizens: Even Do Min Joon can't save you. Professor Do Kim Soo Hyun was also invited by Samsung to be the spokesperson for Galaxy S5 after becoming popular in "My Love from the Star".

Consumers “vote with their feet”

When it comes to judging the declining trend of Samsung’s mobile phones, personal feelings or data from a small scale and without rigorous investigation are always inaccurate, but we may be able to get a glimpse of it from Samsung’s financial report.

Samsung's profit peaked in the third quarter of last year and has been declining since then. The main reason is the difficulties Samsung has encountered in mobile phone sales: it faces the threat of the iPhone in the high-end market and encounters mobile phone manufacturers from mainland China in the low-end market.

This situation is still continuing. Although Samsung's Q2 financial report has not been released yet, according to foreign media reports, Samsung's Chief Financial Officer Lee Sang Hoon has predicted that the company's second-quarter financial report may not be very good. Samsung's second-quarter profit target is only 8.4 trillion won, a decrease of nearly 2 trillion won from the third quarter of last year.

The reason behind the decline in profits is the weak sales of Samsung smartphones. Samsung's second-quarter mobile phone sales are said to have dropped to 79 million units, a 10% drop from 89 million units in the first quarter.

This series of data changes obviously coincides with the changes in the surrounding consumers' impressions of Samsung phones. Samsung said this was the result of being squeezed by other brands, but if a brand is strong enough and its quality issues are not criticized, how can other brands have a chance?

Therefore, Professor Do can neither save Han fans nor Samsung phones. The huge advertising investment of more than 14 billion US dollars has obviously not yielded satisfactory results and has not brought corresponding brand effects.

Some foreign analysts even poured cold water on Samsung: after the release of iPhone 6 in the third quarter of this year, the sales volume of Galaxy S5 will drop by at least 25%, because most users said they would wait until iPhone 6 is released before making a purchasing decision.

According to statistics from foreign agencies, the shipment volume of Galaxy S5 in the second quarter of this year was 21 million units, while in the third quarter it will only be 15 million units. Last year's flagship Galaxy S4 will also drop from 6 million to 5 million units.

In fact, if I hadn’t been so fed up, I would have wanted to wait until the iPhone 6 was released before changing to a new phone. But Samsung’s poor performance gave Xiaomi another chance. Before that, I had helped my family replace a Samsung phone with a Xiaomi that had call quality issues.

Third option

Some colleagues also told me that Samsung's phones are actually among the better ones in the Android system, and the slow response is mainly due to system problems. But the key problem is that the price of Samsung phones is two to three times that of other local phones. If your performance is not even as good as these phones, it is only a matter of time before you are abandoned by consumers.

Some commentators believe that what really affects Samsung is not its lack of innovation, but the emergence of a large number of brands that are inexpensive, have better operating systems, and are positioned in the mid-range, which have seized market share.

All these changes actually took only about two years. Two years ago, the domestic smartphone market was basically monopolized by Apple and Samsung. Domestic manufacturers could only make small-scale efforts in the low-end market. Consumers with a decent income would basically choose iPhone or Samsung, because at that time, holding a domestic smartphone would be considered a very "copycat" behavior.

However, market changes always catch people off guard. In less than two years, a number of domestic brands including Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, etc. have quickly occupied the mid-to-high-end market and are considered to be the third choice besides Apple and Samsung. More and more friends around me use domestic mobile phones. I heard that Xiaomi and Huawei mobile phones are also very popular in Hong Kong.

Recently, Chinese mobile phone brands have ushered in a historic moment: Coolpad surpassed Apple and Samsung for the first time and ranked first in China's 4G mobile phone market. According to the latest research report of market research company Sino, in May this year, Coolpad's sales in China's 4G mobile phone market exceeded Samsung and Apple, becoming the brand with the largest 4G mobile phone shipments. Among the top ten on the list, eight are domestic brands, which means that the competition between Chinese and foreign mobile phone brands in China's 4G market has reversed for the first time.

Samsung is believed to have underestimated the development speed of China's 4G market and will miss the market dividend in the early stage of 4G development. On the one hand, the 4G products it launched are highly dependent on 3G models and have not made innovative breakthroughs; on the other hand, it did not expand its product line downward in a timely manner.

The combination of these factors will exacerbate the crisis of Samsung mobile phones in the Chinese market. For mobile phones, which are necessities of life, consumers will definitely become more rational in their choices. Today's first place does not mean tomorrow's glory. Samsung, it is necessary to learn from Nokia ten years ago. Goodbye, no farewell.

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.