As Samsung’s recent second-quarter earnings pre-announcement made clear, the company’s smartphone business is facing some trouble right now. At the low end, Samsung is getting squeezed by several aggressive budget vendors selling dirt cheap phones in emerging markets. At the top, Samsung is still facing intense competition from Apple and its insanely popular iPhone lineup. In fact, demand for Apple’s flagship iPhone 5s is still so huge that sales of Samsung’s latest hero phone, the Galaxy S5, couldn’t even top iPhone 5s sales in the Galaxy phone’s first full month on store shelves.
Market research firm Counterpoint surveyed 35 markets accounting for 90% of global iPhone 5s and Galaxy S5 sales, and its findings are somewhat staggering. According to the firm, Apple’s iPhone 5s outsold Samsung’s Galaxy S5 handset by 40% in May.
May, by the way, was the Galaxy S5’s first full month of sales following mid-April launches in 150 countries including the United States.
Reuters reports that according to Counterpoint, Samsung sold 5 million Galaxy S5 smartphones this past May. Meanwhile, continued strong demand helped Apple sell 7 million iPhone 5s handsets.
“They made one mistake, one product that didn’t hold up to expectations and they are paying the price,” Counterpoint analyst Tom Kang told Reuters. “They will have to move forward and leave behind what has failed and focus on the next product.”
Samsung has at least two more new high-end smartphones planned for 2014, if recent rumors pan out. The South Korean company will reportedly launch a premium metal Galaxy F this summer and then follow it with the Galaxy Note 4 phablet in the fall.
Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly planning to launch an iPhone 6 and an iPhone phablet this year, both of which could seriously eat into Samsung’s high-end smartphone sales in the second half of 2014.
