For a flagship device, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 doesn’t exactly sound like it’s flying high. According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Samsung dramatically overestimated how many people were hankering after its new handset, with the result being that unsold units are now “piling up in warehouses.”
Although the S5 has sold around 12 million units in its first three months, that is substantially less than the numbers of the previous generation Galaxy S4, which sold around 4 million more in that same time frame. This would be bad news at any time, but Samsung was reportedly so gung-ho about the S5’s sales prospects that it actually increased production by 20%.
Sales of the handset are reported to be down more than 50% in China, and the U.S. is the only major market where sales increased.
This isn’t the first time bad news has been reported regarding Samsung’s mobile division. Not only has its chief taken a pay cut as handset sales falter, but the Wall Street Journal thinks the Galaxy S5 debacle could even spark a managerial rethink, with current mobile chief J.K. Shin ditched in favor of TV & home appliance chief B.K. Yoon.
At least the Galaxy S5 isn’t the year’s most notable mobile flop, however: Recently it was reported that Amazon’s disastrous Fire Phone still has around $83 million worth of unsold inventory sitting around in storage. Maybe the Fire Phone and the Galaxy S5 can keep each other company.
Via: The Verge
