Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone is now upon us, and early signs are pointing to a big launch. Canaccord Genuity analyst Mike Walkley doesn’t formally cover Samsung, but he fancies himself as being plugged into wireless retail and he suggested in a recent research note that Samsung’s new king is off to a solid start.
“A very strong initial Samsung Galaxy S4 global launch with Samsung ramping supply of the Galaxy S4 to over 300 carriers in 155 countries the next several weeks” could push Samsung’s lead in global market share even higher this quarter, Walkley said in the note, which was picked up by Barron’s. In the first quarter this year, Samsung accounted for an estimated 33% of smartphones shipped globally.
He also threw in quick thoughts on BlackBerry, which he said is running into problems despite a successful BlackBerry Q10 launch. While he thinks the Q10 is doing well, Walkley notes that BlackBerry Z10 demand is already waning and he lowered his May-quarter channel sales estimate to 2.8 million BlackBerry 10 phones from an earlier projection of 3.3 million units.
