Samsung has been ditching its famous Galaxy smartphone brand for premium handsets.
According to South Korean website EToday (via 9to5Google), the tech giant is considering changing its approach to smartphones, potentially establishing an entirely new premium smartphone brand and keeping the Galaxy name on lower-end devices.
The original Samsung Galaxy smartphone hit the market more than 15 years ago in June 2009. Since then, the Galaxy brand has become synonymous with Samsung smartphones. The first Galaxy S phone arrived the following year.
That may indeed be the problem. Galaxy is no longer considered a premium brand, and its name now includes affordable smartphone series such as Galaxy A and Galaxy M. According to the report, Samsung’s intention is to create a new premium brand to mark its top-of-the-line models such as the Galaxy A and Galaxy M. rest.
The situation is similar to that of Hyundai, another major Korean company that introduced the Genesis brand for more premium cars with good results.
For Samsung, this will likely mean adding new tags to its Galaxy S and Galaxy Z lineups. This focuses the competition on Apple, which only releases premium iPhones, and clearly distinguishes the iPhone SE as a (slightly) more affordable option.
Samsung remains the world’s biggest smartphone maker by unit shipments, but competition from Chinese brands such as Xiaomi and Vivo is increasing, while Apple continues to dominate the premium segment.
Samsung’s switch to a new premium smartphone brand has already been hinted at by Lee Yong-hee, president of Samsung’s global marketing center. At CES 2024, she said, “Galaxy has such a large lineup, so it’s understandable that people would expect a new name when a revolutionary tipping point occurs.”
We continue to rate Samsung’s premium Galaxy products pretty highly, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a top contender in our roundup of the best smartphones of 2024. But it’s true that the Galaxy brand has become so widely used in all areas that it means little at this point.
