Samsung’s Galaxy S5 has fallen well short of the company’s expectations, selling 40 percent less than last year’s Galaxy S4.
Intended to counter the launch of Apple’s iPhone 6, Samsung has managed to move just 12 million S5 units since its April release, a major let down after the S4 sold 16 million in 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Galaxy S5 sales in the US fared better than other international markets, but flopped dramatically in China where the rise of smartphone maker Xiaomi and its affordable high-end devices has contributed to a major dent in Samsung sales.
The Galaxy S5 was pegged as a massive upgrade over the S4 when it hit shelves earlier this year, but wasn’t able to swing last month’s news of Samsung’s mobile business plummeting 74 percent on the previous year, leading to the South Korean company announcing a planned reform of its smartphone lineup.
The first wrap around display featured on the Galaxy Note Edge appears to be the direction Samsung is set to follow with flexible-display smartphones capable of folding in half set for 2016.
“We will secure production capacity of 30,000 to 40,000 [flexible displays each month] by the end of next year,” Samsung said last week. “There will be no company [except Samsung] that has this great production capacity by 2016.
“We plan to provide consumers with a product that has a flexible display by the end of the year. However, nothing has been decided on the finished product.”
Samsung is also reportedly already at work on the new S6 and will be heavily bumping up the specs on its latest device.
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