At least as far as Samsung’s Galaxy S flagship smartphones go, it may be time for a time new name.
That’s according to a report from South Korean’s Yonhap News Agency, which quotes an unnamed company source over the weekend as confirming that the South Korea-based smartphone manufacturing giant is looking into a new naming convention for its next generation of flagship phones. The consideration comes on the heels of the high-profile launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S10 series of devices, as well as the long-awaited unveiling of the Galaxy Fold — Samsung’s pricey new foldable smartphone.
“Samsung is aware that after the S10, people may not like the longer names that will come with two-digit numbers, if we stick to the current system,” one unnamed source told the Yonhap news service, adding that phone names ending in 11, 12, 13 and so on may start to get to be a bit of a mouthful to pronounce.
“Nothing has been decided,” the report continues, “although the company is looking at options that can appeal to consumers.”
This news is definitely interesting on a number of levels. Any change resulting from these internal discussions around the current alphanumeric-based naming system could lead to a major branding departure for the top smartphone maker in the world, which has used its current naming system since the first Galaxy S device was introduced back in 2009.
It’s also not the first time that chatter about such a change has emerged. After presenting the then-new Galaxy S9 at MWC 2018, Samsung’s mobile division head DJ Koh hinted that the company was open to different branding for future devices. Specifically, Koh acknowledged discussions about whether the company ought to “maintain the S moniker or the numbering system” — though Samsung went on to preserve the status quo, at least for the time being, with the release of the S10.
We’re not marketing experts, but it strikes us that consideration of this kind of change is commendable — as long as it’s not happening in a vacuum. In other words, the ideal would be for a rethink of the flagship branding to accompany more substantive changes with the handsets themselves, so that the new name doesn’t just amount to putting an old drink in a new glass, so to speak. Nevertheless, nothing has been decided as yet, and Samsung has certainly been down this road before — or hinted that it would be — so we’ll have to wait and see if the company finally takes action and decides to roll out something new.
