November 21, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Tech giant Samsung Electronics has set the the shipment goal for its mid-range Galaxy A and low-end Galaxy J smartphone series at 20 million and 100 million, respectively, according to a person briefed on the matter on Jan.9.

Samsung released the Galaxy A7, A5, and A3 last week, all of which boast a waterproof design, a fingerprint scanner, and a full HD AMOLED display, which used to be common features on high-end smartphones in the past. 

Galaxy A

The previous models of the Galaxy J series have garnered high popularity in emerging smartphone markets such as India and South America.

The release comes amid exlusive reports from The Investor that Samsung has set its annual shipment goal for the Galaxy S8 at 60 million handsets. The release date was pushed back to mid-April from March, which is when Samsung usually launched its latest flagship models.

Samsung -- the world’s largest smartphone maker -- showed improved fourth quarter performance in 2015, but it has been hit by a double whammy consisting of the fatal flaws of its Galaxy Note 7 and dwindling smartphone demand.

According to a recent report by market research firm IDC, the global smartphone market grew only 1.6 percent in 2016 with the number of smartphone shipments standing at 1.46 billion while it is forecast to grow at around 4 percent this year. The projected growth figure for 2017 is much lower than the double-digit rate in the early years of the smartphone era.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)