In November 2011, Samsung released the first of a series of ads that would define the company for

the next three years.

It started with a bunch of hipster-looking people waiting outside a mock Apple Store for the next
iPhone. As the hipsters tick down the hours until they have the right to get Apples new iThing, they
spot others on the street using something better.
The phone, Samsungs former flagship Galaxy S II, had a big screen and a 4G wireless connection,
two major features that were missing from Apples new iPhone 4S. And unlike the iPhone, you didnt
have to wait around to buy a Galaxy S II. You could get it now.
The irony was that you didnt see anyone lining up to buy a Samsung, or anything other than an
iPhone, in those days. But that started to change with that first Next Big Thing spot. Just like Apple
poked fun at Microsoft with its Im a Mac campaign in the 2000s, Samsungs goal was to tap into
the same strategy a little guy taking swings at the dominant player in the industry.
By the end of 2012, Samsungs profits were up a whopping 76%, fueled by the growth of the mobile
division, which suddenly became the most profitable part of Samsung. Samsung was the only
company other than Apple making a profit in mobile, and it seemed to be closing in on Apples
dominance, prompting The Wall Street Journal to publish its famous Has Apple Lost Its Cool To
Samsung? headline in January 2013.
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600/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-commercial-1.png
 Samsung
Samsungs Galaxy S II commercial made fun of Apple fans waiting for the
new iPhone.
By the time the Galaxy S4 launched in March 2013, the anticipation surrounding Samsungs
products could only be rivaled by Apple. It was officially a two-horse race.
But it only took another year for things to come crashing down. Profits tumbled in 2014, even during
the normally lucrative holiday season. Throughout the year, Samsung blamed increased competition
in mobile for the downturn.
Now, Samsung is gearing up for its most important smartphone launch ever on March 1. The
question is whether or not the Galaxy S6 will be enough to help Samsung recover from its slump, or
if it will share the same fate as former kings of mobile like Nokia, BlackBerry, and Motorola.
How did Samsung get so big so fast, and how did it all go so wrong? Competition from new players
like Xiaomi and a renewed Apple are a big part of the equation.
But Business Insider has also learned that corporate politics, and a rift between the companys
South Korean headquarters and its suddenly successful US group, also played a role.

The birth of Galaxy

As the post-iPhone smartphone era began in 2008 and 2009, Samsung, along with many others,
was hopelessly behind the curve. It relied mostly on carriers to sell its smartphones, but even then,
there wasnt any distinct branding to separate Samsungs devices from the slew of other generic
phones on the shelf. Depending on your carrier, you either got an iPhone, BlackBerry, or whatever
your carrier threw in for free with a two-year contract.
By about 2009, Samsung decided it needed to come up with a new brand for its upcoming line of
flagship phones designed to run Android, according to sources familiar with Samsungs plans at the
time. Samsung had a revolutionary new screen technology called Super AMOLED that it at first
wanted to put in someone elses device, perhaps a phone built by a major wireless carrier like
Verizon. Samsung has always provided chips and displays for other manufacturers, and it wanted to
license its Super AMOLED tech the same way.
Eventually, Samsung decided to make its own high-end smartphone to compete with the iPhone, but
it had no way to market it. The Samsung name was synonymous with cheap flip phones and really
nice TVs. It was never mentioned in the same breath as Apple, BlackBerry, or Nokia. That couldve
set up the new device for failure before it even launched. Plus, Samsung tested its brand against
Apple with consumers and learned it was barely recognizable as far as smartphones go. It needed a
change.
So Samsung created a luxury sub-brand for its Android phones moving forward, the Lexus to its
Toyota.
It chose Galaxy.
In March 2010, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S, the first in what would become its successful line of
Android phones and tablets. The Galaxy S had hardware specs that rivaled the iPhone, but was also
heavily criticized for copying the iPhones software and physical appearance. That didnt seem to
matter. There were hundreds of carriers in the world that still didnt offer the iPhone, and AT&T still
had an exclusive on the device in the US.
Samsung made deals with wireless carriers to promote the Galaxy S in stores when it launched that
June. Even better, Samsung got AT&T to agree to sell the Galaxy S, even though it was sure to be a
strong rival for the iPhone.

Two-horse race
Even with the successful launch of the Galaxy S, Samsung was still behind Android rivals like HTC.
Both companies were making decent phones, but neither gave customers a good reason to choose
one over the other. As Samsung prepared to launch its successor to the Galaxy S, the Galaxy S II,
in the spring of 2011, it also formulated a new strategy to market the device, at least in the US.
According to sources familiar with the companys thinking at the time, Samsungs Korean executives
wanted Galaxy to be the number-one smartphone brand within five years. (It ranked fifth in
consumer surveys at the time.)
Under the US head of marketing Todd Pendleton and his team, Samsung was able to do it in 18
months.
At first, the Korean leadership at Samsung wanted to pick off the competition one at a time, starting
with HTC, then Motorola, then BlackBerry, and finally, Apple. But the US team decided on a different
approach. It was going to start a war with Apple, kicking off the smartphone worlds equivalent of
Coke versus Pepsi.
It was a gamble. By attacking Apple directly, Samsung risked looking petty and desperate.
But The Next Big Thing campaign, which was developed by the ad agency 72 And Sunny, was a
massive hit. For the first time since the launch of the iPhone, someone had created the believable
perception that there was something better out there.

Out-innovating Apple
With the launch of The Next Big Thing campaign came a lot of glowing press coverage for
Samsung. There was a company out there willing to take swipes at the king of smartphones, and
consumers were responding.
And for all the criticism Samsung got along the way for copying Apple, it did prove that the world was
hungry for something the iPhone didnt have yet smartphones with giant screens.
In the fall of 2011, Samsung announced the Galaxy Note, the first so-called phablet with a 5.3-inch
display. (The iPhone 4S only had a 3.5-inch screen.) Compared to most phones at the time, the
Galaxy Note appeared absolutely massive. When it launched in February 2013, critics blasted the
Note for being too large. The Wall Street Journals Walt Mossberg, one of the most famous tech
reviewers in the world, compared using the Note to holding a piece of toast against your ear.
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924/samsung-galaxy-note-3-5.jpg
 AP
Samsungs Galaxy Note created the phablet market.
The initial reception was so bad at first, sources say some US carriers almost didnt want to sell the
Galaxy Note II the following year.
But the phone sold well outside the US, especially in Asia, and eventually Samsung was able to
prove there was a market for phablets. Samsungs phones kept getting bigger and better screens,
while iPhone users were stuck with tiny devices.
A real narrative began to emerge in the press: Apple was in trouble if it didnt catch up with Samsung
and start offering phones with bigger screens. Many asked if Apple had lost its knack for innovation
following the death of Steve Jobs, and Samsung was doing a really good job at making that theory
seem plausible. Apples stock dropped as low as about $380 from its all-time high of about $705,
largely on fears that Apple didnt have a revolutionary new product up its sleeves.
Meanwhile, Samsung continued to climb. Sources familiar with Samsungs sales at the time said its
marketing of the Galaxy S line of phones had residual effects and boosted sales of Samsungs other
products like washing machines and refrigerators. In fact, the US team was outperforming
Samsungs headquarters in Sourh Korea, and other international offices were itching to adopt The
Next Big Thing in their respective countries.
The Next Big Thing campaign was clearly a success.
Unfortunately, not everyone at Samsung saw it that way.

Missed opportunity
The success of Samsungs Mobile in the US began a rift with the Korean headquarters. Sources say
the more successful Samsung was in the US, the more complicated the relationship with
headquarters got. Instead of getting credit, the US team felt they were being chastised for doing their
jobs well. (Samsung declined to comment on this story.)
It got so bad, a source told us, that Samsung flew a plane full of executives to the mobile divisions
office in Dallas for an unannounced audit that lasted three weeks in 2012. The Dallas-based
employees had to go through all materials they used to sell and market Samsungs mobile products.
They were accused of falsifying sales, bribing the media, and a bunch of other damaging actions
that hurt morale in the office. The same US-based office that helped turn Samsung into a brand as
recognizable as Apple was suddenly being punished for its work.
After three weeks, the Korean auditors found nothing wrong with the way the US office had been
operating and went home. But the damage had been done, and the perception remained at the
Korean headquarters that despite its success, the US team was up to no good.
In fact, during one meeting with the global teams at Samsungs headquarters in Korea, executives
made the US team stand up in front of several hundred of their peers in an auditorium. The
executives told the employees to clap for the US team as encouragement since they were the only
group failing the company, even though it was clear to everyone the opposite was true.
That all but killed any hope of translating what the US team pulled off to other regions. They were
able to continue in North America, but Samsungs global messaging remained disjointed.
It all culminated in 2013 when Samsung introduced the Galaxy S4 at an over-the-top event at Radio
City Music Hall in New York. Instead of the traditional product announcement, Samsung put on a
Broadway-style musical that incorporated features of the new phone.
It was weird, one of those things you had to see to believe. And a lot of people criticized Samsung
for putting on a show that seemed to objectify women. CNETs Molly Wood called the event tone-
deaf and shockingly sexist.
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unpacked-event-92-1.jpg

Screenshot
Samsungs Galaxy S4 event was criticized for objectifying women.
Aside from the awkward unveiling, the Galaxy S4 also launched to mostly negative reviews.
Samsung packed a ton of features into the phone like touch-free controls, eye tracking, and a whole
suite of camera modes that were either unnecessary or didnt work as advertised. Still, the phone
was Samsungs most successful ever, and 2013 was another very good year for the company.
But 2014 was going to be a wakeup call.

The rough year

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last year, Samsung boasted that it had sold over 100
million units from its Galaxy S line over the last four years, a sales figure for a flagship series that
only Apple could beat.
Then it unveiled the Galaxy S5, a phone that toned down a lot of the superfluous features of the
Galaxy S4 while including some useful new stuff like an improved camera and water-resistant body.
Like previous Galaxy S phones, the S5 had a plastic body and sold for about $650 unlocked. Based
on the success of the Galaxy S4, the company had no reason to believe it had a dud on its hands.
It was wrong.
There are a lot of factors for Samsungs major slip in 2014, but the biggest culprit appears to be
Chinese smartphone manufacturers. Chinese companies like the startups OnePlus and Xiaomi
appeared to have perfected the magic formula for making beautiful, high-quality smartphones that
cost at least half as much as the iPhone or Samsungs Galaxy S series.
Xiaomi was the biggest success story of the year. By some estimates, it was the top smartphone
vendor in China, the next big market where millions of people are making the transition to
smartphones. Xiaomis phones are made out of premium materials like metal, so they look better
than Samsungs phones. They also have similar specs like fast processors, sharp screens, and high-
quality cameras.
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ceo-lei-jun-8.jpg
 AP
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun. Xiaomi was the top smartphone vendor in China in
2014.
Xiaomis rise meant Samsungs decline in China. Since Xiaomi phones are also Android phones,
there was very little Samsungs pricier models could do that Xiaomis phones couldnt do. Plus,
Xiaomi is a marketing success story. Fans snap up the devices with the same fervor Apple fans buy
new iPhone models in Western countries. And most of Xiaomis marketing is done through social
media or word of mouth, so it doesnt have to rely on the multimillion dollar ad campaigns Samsung
uses.
But Xiaomi is just one factor. A lot of Samsungs success came because it was able to get a head
start and distribute its phones on a broader scale before the rest of the non-iPhone competition
could, according to tech analyst Ben Thompson, the author of the Stratechery blog.
For example, the iPhone was only available on about a third as many carriers as Samsung phones
were. In the US, Samsung phones were one of your best options unless you were an AT&T
customer and had access to the iPhone.
It was the same story on China Mobile, the largest wireless carrier in the world with over 700 million
subscribers. Apple finally brought the iPhone to China Mobile early last year. Ever since, China has
been one of Apples biggest growth areas for the iPhone business. Everyone else seemed to be
choosing Xiaomi, Lenovo, or another cheaper rival to Samsung.
I think its always dangerous when you dont know why youve won, Thompson said in an interview.
One of the reasons Samsung succeeded is they pivoted in ways Nokia and others didnt. They were
able to leverage everything they already had, but werent able to sustain it because there wasnt
anything special about their phones. Samsung got crushed on the high end by Apple and the low
end by Xiaomi in China.
Thompson continued, At the end of the day, theres nothing to differentiate a Samsung phone, so
theyll have to compete on price.
However, that doesnt seem to be Samsungs plan.

The new strategy

On March 1, Samsung will unveil two new versions of its next flagship phone, the Galaxy
S6. According to sources familiar with Samsungs plans, one version will have a metal body, a
departure from the plasticky phones the company has made in the past. The second version will
have a curved screen, similar to the Galaxy Note Edge that launched last fall.
But both models are still going to priced as premium products. According to one leak, the Edge
version of the Galaxy S6 could cost over $1,000 without a contract, at least three times the cost of a
Xiaomi phone.
Unless Samsung has a special trick up its sleeve on the software side, its unlikely that its new
phones will be enough to justify the extra cost over similar Android devices. And if that happens,
Samsung is almost certainly up for another messy year. The glow surrounding Samsungs
smartphone business has almost certainly faded for good. Time to find something new.
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600/samsung-ceo-bk-yoon-5.jpg
 REUTERS/Rick Wilking
Samsung CEO BK Yoon at the opening CES keynote.
However, that doesnt mean the company is hosed. Samsung is a massive organization that makes
everything from dishwashers to air purifiers. It has the scale and manufacturing power to harness the
next big thing after smartphones, even if that next big thing doesnt come from its own R&D labs.
Plus, its chip business is already very profitable, and is due to get a nice boost thanks to a reported
agreement with Samsung to make processors for the next iPhone due to launch later this year.
One key area Samsung is focusing on in the near term is the internet of things (IoT) trend, which
means connecting everyday objects like light switches and toasters to the internet for a deeper level
of control. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January of this year, Samsung announced that
every product it makes will connect to the internet within a few years. In theory, this will build a
valuable ecosystem connecting everything in your home and create a whole new category of
Samsung customers.
But in the meantime, Samsungs core mobile business is struggling.

Read more at http://www.businessinsider.my/samsung-rise-and-fall-2015-2/#pxIoZxfIclXSJW6x.99

Q&A: How Samsung

Embraced Innovation to
Become a Global Master of
Brand Marketing

Even Samsung's top marketing executives like Younghee Lee admit it wasn't
long ago that consumers thought of the company as "boring and monotonous,"
a geeked-out marketer working with a little-known ad agency affiliate in an
electronics world transformed by sexy brands like Apple. Fast-forward to June
25, almost two decades after she joined the Korean electronics giant, and it
will be Leea stylish, former L'Oral and Lancme exec who now runs
Samsung's mobile businessnot its engineers to accept Samsung's honors as
the Cannes Lions' Creative Marketer of the Year.

With good reason, too. Last year, Samsung took home 27 Lions, contributing
to an overall historical total of 74 awards (more than any marketer in the last
five years) at a marketing organization being transformed by top nontech
practitioners and creative powerhouses including Bartle Bogle Hegarty and
Wieden + Kennedy. Those shops were recently added to roster agencies like
Leo Burnett, 72andSunny and Cheil Worldwide. Lee, evp, global marketing,
mobile communications business, recently spoke with Adweek about the
changes underway at a company that has not only toppled Apple as the
dominant mobile handset brand, but is also now challenging consumers to use
their phones with new connected devices like refrigerators and software
services. Here's an edited transcript:

Adweek: How has the Samsung brand evolved from a tech-driven

engineering company to a consumer-centric lifestyle brand?
Younghee Lee: When I joined Samsung Electronics back in 2007, it was a true
tech and innovation company in its DNA. As I entered without an engineering
background, it was very difficult to understand all those technological gadgets.
So what I've done is to figure out how I can understand and convey the story
to consumers in meaningful ways. Our mission should be for the everyday
users, not technology for the sake of technology. All the great technology we
have had to be translated to consumer language. We've done a lot of research
to understand what consumers want and need. That is at the core of our
marketing.

How have cultural changes at the company impacted its marketing?

They've had a huge impact in the way our employees engage with and change
our marketing beyond our traditional boundaries. This year when we launched
our new flagship device, the Galaxy S7, at the event we called "Unpacked," we
invited [Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg to help make our new smartphone
story come alive. That was a true breakthrough idea from our employees and
very different from what we've done in the past. We installed 5,000 Gear VR
headsets at the eventand at the moment of the product unveil, everyone put
on the headset and experienced the product introduction virtually while Mark
walked onstage to share his vision of VR with Samsung. This was the first time
a mass experience of 5,000 Gear VR headsets had been done and a great
example of how we can create excitement with our advanced technology.

What is the consumer perception of Samsung as a brand?

Based on our research, the top words associated with Samsung are
"innovation," "technology" and "dynamic." In the brand attitude survey, key
attributes are "innovative" and "fast-paced." We are introducing technology in
a quick rhythm. Samsung is a huge technology company that's dynamic and
appealing to multicultural and multiregional countries, with key consumer
perceptions reflecting that.

How do you want your brand to be positioned to consumers?

We are a true innovation company with a bold attitude. Through our
technology, we want people to achieve impossible things, and we strive to give
people freedom. We're open, not closed; we're democratic The phone is a
gateway to new experiencestogether with a watch, together with a tablet,
together with a TV, you can have a better experience. We want to be a
technology pioneer.
How are you migrating from a Korean company to a truly global
multinational? How does that change your marketing approach?
We have a spirit of the "joyful pioneer," of not accepting limits and daring to
defy barriers. And we are very open, inclusive and truly multinational. There
was a time when we were very well-known as a Korea-based, boring and
monotonous engineering company, but not anymore. I don't know if the
company changed first with the marketing approach following, or the other
way around.

From a marketing communications perspective, how did Samsung

overtake Apple as the industry's lead smartphone manufacturer?
We always relentlessly pursue what we think is right in technology. Our
communications program is no different. If we think it is right, we pursue it
relentlessly. In North America, we were aggressive with our marketing toward
competitorswe went at them head on. If you think about the "Fanboy" and
"Wall Hugger" (Galaxy S) campaigns and the approach we took there, we tried
to be flexible, relevant and bold. The virtues of our brand are engineering,
openness, freedom in mindset, purposeful innovation, multiculturalism,
vibrancy, being inviting and inclusiveness. My goal is to help our consumers
understand our values and support how the brand can be attached to them.

What are Samsung's phone marketing priorities going forward?

My biggest challenge is to obtain more share of mind from millennials. It's
crucial for us to keep our Samsung Galaxy brand as a young and fresh mindset.
Another focus is to tell the story of how the smartphone is a gateway to a
bigger world and galaxy of experiences. You will see a lot of efforts on these
priorities going forward.

Why did Samsung conduct a global creative review in 2014, and

what did you learn from it? Did it reflect organizational changes
within Samsung's marketing department?
Samsung has multiple divisions: mobile, digital appliance, visual display.
Periodically our leadership team reviews our agencies in terms of expertise
and experience. We have some long-term relationships with our agency
partners, but we review to see what we can do better together. As a partner, we
try to learn a lot from our multiple agencies and their different expertise. We
learned a lot from that (2014 review) process. It's part of our efforts to
increase efficiency and be consistent in our communication as a company. It
doesn't necessarily mean that we are changing our marketing approach or
strategy at all.

What are the high points in Samsung's marketing communications

over the past year?
A Fighting Chance is a documentary directed by Morgan Neville, an Academy
Award-winning documentary director, featuring Samsung's philosophy of
defying complacency. This is a film about having big dreams and the
challenges you face in converting those dreams into reality. Personally, I find
it inspiring because it's all about possessing the determination to never give up,
regardless of what the odds and naysayers say, because that is the only way we
progress as humans.

For me, Samsung Galaxy S7's Unpacked was the monumental event of the year.
Unpacked has been Samsung's unique product launching platform since 2008
where we bring together around 5,000 global media, clients and partners to
provide an exciting new-product experience. This year's event at Mobile World
Congress was an especially exciting one with our Gear VRs providing a virtual
reality product introduction as Mark Zuckerberg walked onto the stage for his
surprise speech with D.J. Koh, Samsung mobile chief. It was probably the
biggest "wow" moment in the entire tech industry this year.

Unpacking Samsung is a film we launched prior to Galaxy S7's Unpacked to

pay homage to the user-generated phenomena of "unboxing" videos while
taking viewers on a journey through Samsung's history of impacting
technology and culture. This film "unboxes" some of our most iconic
innovations and historic moments. It includes the first phone ever launched,
the world's first commercially available watch phone, the world's first 3G call
made from Everest and ends with the S6 edge and Gear VR headset. The
featured devices are showcased for their respective contributions to everyday
life and culture.

Our "Happy New Gear" campaign was themed around the holiday period and
aimed to send the biggest holiday card ever using the Samsung Gear S2. You
can see the bold, playful, conversational and inviting visual expressions in a
series of massive digital out-of-home displays.

The "Look at Me" campaign received a lot of attention at Cannes

last year, winning five Lions and underscoring Samsung's
consumer-centric strategy.
Studies show that children with autism like to interact with digital devices. So
we developed the world's first interactive camera app to help them improve
social skills. Using Samsung smart devices, we developed a fun and easy-to-
use app to help children with autism interact with people. In collaboration
with doctors, professors and app developers, seven missions were created to
train the children to make better eye contact and improve their
communication skills.
What can we expect from Samsung's next generation of wearable
technology? What's the commitment to growing that product
category?
Wearables are a key area that we are focusing on, not just for sales but also as
a great communications and experience tool. Samsung was the first company
to introduce the watch phone in 1998 and smartwatch in 2010. Since then, we
have continued to pioneer in the wearables category and hold the largest
number of wearable patents. We're committed to constantly looking for ways
to intersect technology, content and services to enable consumers to do more
and get more out of them.

You've been hiring execs from consumer marketing giants like

Procter & Gamble and Unilever in the U.S., Europe and Asia. How
are you attracting the best marketing talent to Samsung?
One of the most attractive benefits is that Samsung is still growing and very
young in spirit, although we are a very big organization and a market leader.
Very talented and experienced marketing experts are enjoying new challenges
and trying something never done before at Samsung. I always encourage these
challenging spirits [who are] bringing fresh thinking to my team.

On the premium end, Samsung has always done battle with Apple.
Now there's increasing pressure from lower-end manufacturers
like Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo. How will you compete with
them going forward?
The mobile industry has been very dynamic for the past few decades. Being a
leader now does not mean that you can sustain that leadership forever.
Samsung knows that very well, and that's why we keep our mindset very
humble and relentlessly pursue better technology, superior marketing
campaigns and more efficient global operations. I respect the brands you
mentioned, their commitment and efforts to enter into the global market from
several local success stories. We will focus on providing better value to our
consumers, the way we have always been successful. We are always ready
and very confident to win.

This story first appeared in the June 13, 2016 issue of Adweek magazine.

A HISTORY OF SAMSUNGS GALAXY PHONES AND TABLETS, FROM

THE S1 TO THE S4

As Android has grown, Samsung has come to completely dominate it. The South
Korean manufacturer sold more mobile phones than any other company in 2012,
accounting for 22 percent of the market, according to Gartner. Knowing that
Android claimed around 70 percent of the worldwide smartphone market in 2012
and IDC research suggests that Samsung was responsible for 42 percent of all
Android smartphone shipments during the year. Samsung is the most popular
Android phone maker, by far.

This success is entirely built on Samsungs Galaxy brand which has encompassed
over 50 separate devices, if you count all the smartphone variants, phablets, and
tablets released so far. Samsung has bombarded every niche, every price point,
every form factor, every carrier, and every country it can possibly reach.

When the Samsung i7500, also known as the Samsung Galaxy, was released in
June 2009, it marked Samsungs entry into the Android smartphone market. The first
Android smartphone, the HTC Dream (or T-Mobile G1), had been released the
previous year and the all-conquering Motorola Droid was to land just a couple of
months later. Few would have predicted Samsungs climb to dominance back
then. Fast forward to the present day and Samsung is riding high as excitement
builds ahead of the release of its newest flagship, the Galaxy S4, which is expected
to be the next in line for the Android throne, and could even outsell the iPhone, if its
lucky.
The S stands for success

Throughout Samsungs assault on the smartphone market, the company has always
been careful to distinguish its flagship line with the letter S.

The original Samsung Galaxy S was released in the summer of 2010 and it has sold
over 24 million units worldwide. As a high-end, premium Android smartphone, it
packed a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 4-inch display, and a 5-megapixel
camera. The reception was good and it was widely considered as credible
competition for the HTC Desire and the iPhone 4. It was released on all of the major
U.S. carriers and Samsung created a special version for each of them and
differentiated them with the Epic 4G, Vibrant, Captivate, Fascinate, and Mesmerize
names.

A few budget Galaxy offshoots aimed at various markets around the world followed,
and the year ended with a bang as the pure Android Nexus S, co-developed with
Google, launched in time for Christmas, but in 2011 Samsung was to enjoy even
greater success. Hardly a month passed in 2011 without a new Galaxy smartphone
the Ace, the Fit, the Gio, the Mini, but it was the Galaxy S2 that was to secure
Samsungs place at the top of the Android tree. Slim, powerful, and hugely desirable,
the S2 launched in more than 120 countries in the summer of 2011.

With a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4.3-inch display, and an 8-

megapixel camera the S2 blew the competition away and it was widely praised as
the best Android phone on the market, with some reviewers going further and calling
it the best smartphone on the market. Samsung has sold more than 40 million S2
handsets since release and there have been a number of variants on different
carriers and in various countries.

Youd be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja-vu as Samsung saw out 2011 with a
laundry list of Galaxy models including the R, the W, the Y, the XCover, the
Stratosphere, and most notably the Galaxy Nexus. The pattern continued in 2012
with the Ace Plus, the Beam, the Pocket, and then in the summer Samsungs
greatest success so far.

The Galaxy S3 boasted a 1.4GHz quad-core processor (1.5 GHz dual-core in some
markets), 1GB or 2GB of RAM, a 4.8-inch display with a 720p resolution, and an 8-
megapixel camera. It proved to be the fastest-selling Android smartphone to date
and Samsung has sold over 40 million S3 handsets in 145 countries so far, meaning
its selling at roughly double the rate of its predecessor.
For the rest of 2012 Samsung continued to pump out a huge number of Galaxy
devices from the Stellar, to the Reverb, to the Rugby Pro. Samsung even released a
camera under the Galaxy brand. This year has started in much the same way as the
hype grows deafening in the buildup to the release of Samsungs next flagship, the
Galaxy S4, which is expected to outsell its predecessors.

Relationship with Google

The Nexus S was released in December 2010 and, as a co-development with

Google, it seemed to indicate Samsungs coming of age in the Android market. It
was the first Android device with NFC (near-field communication) and it got a fairly
good reception. The partnership obviously went well enough that the two companies
collaborated again to release the Galaxy Nexus just under a year later. It boasted a
high definition 720p display and launched version 4.0 of the Android platform,
codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. This time the reviews were universally positive,
but because of the direct Web sales strategy from Google and the lack of sales
statistics from carriers like Verizon and Sprint, we dont know how many people
actually bought one.
It looks like that will be the last collaboration between the two companies for the
foreseeable future as Motorola is widely expected to produce the next Google
Android smartphone. Rumblings in the tech press suggest that Google is concerned
about Samsungs dominance in the Android field.

Tablets and hybrids

Samsung hasnt confined the Galaxy brand to smartphones; it has also released the
Galaxy Tab range of Android tablets and the Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet hybrids.
The first Galaxy Note was a surprise success and sold over 10 million units since its
release at the end of 2011. It combined powerful specs with a 5.3-inch display and a
special stylus with unique functionality and related software, known as the S-Pen. Its
successor, the Galaxy Note 2, upped the display to 5.55 inches and is arguably
Samsungs current flagship packing a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 720p resolution
display, 2GB of RAM, and storage capacity up to 128GB (if you use a microSD). It
was released at the end of September 2012 and sold 5 million units in the first two
months.
When it comes to tablets, Samsungs success has apparently been more modest.
The range includes releases at various sizes from the 7-inch display of the Galaxy
Tab 7.0 through 7.7 and 8.9 to 10.1. The Galaxy Note 10.1 is its biggest and best
tablet so far and it combines the S-Pen from the smaller Note models with a large
form factor traditional tablet. None of these tablets have come to rival the iPad, or
even Amazons Kindle Fire, which remains the most popular Android tablet.

Can Samsung do it again?

With reports that Samsung is planning to sell 10 million Galaxy S4 handsets a

monthand Galaxy S4 rumors in overdrive, we expect fireworks on March 14
(today). The trick Samsung has pulled off so successfully so far is to flood every
area of the market with Galaxy devices and yet keep its flagship S series distinct.
This is partly due to the design and the quality, but clever marketing has also played
a huge part. Can Samsung continue to dominate so thoroughly, or has it finally
grown fat and lazy on too much success?
Whatever happens later today, it will be the start of a new chapter in the history of
the Galaxy brand. If history is any indication, the Galaxy S4 is going to be one wildly
successful phone.

Samsung History
Unlike other electronic companies Samsung origins were not
involving electronics but other products.

In 1938 the Samsung's founder Byung-Chull Lee set up a trade

export company in Korea, selling fish, vegetables, and fruit to
China. Within a decade Samusng had flour mills and
confectionary machines and became a co-operation in 1951.
Humble beginnings.

From 1958 onwards Samsung began to expand into other

industries such as financial, media, chemicals and ship building
throughout the 1970's. In 1969, Samsung Electronics was
established producing what Samsung is most famous for,
Televisions, Mobile Phones (throughout 90's), Radio's, Computer
components and other electronics devices.

1987 founder and chairman, Byung-Chull Lee passed away and

Kun-Hee Lee took over as chairman. In the 1990's Samsung
began to expand globally building factories in the US, Britain,
Germany, Thailand, Mexico, Spain and China until 1997.

In 1997 nearly all Korean businesses shrunk in size and

Samsung was no exception. They sold businesses to relieve debt
and cut employees down lowering personnel by 50,000. But
thanks to the electronic industry they managed to curb this and
continue to grow.

The history of Samsung and mobile phones stretches back to

over 10 years. In 1993 Samsung developed the 'lightest' mobile
phone of its era. The SCH-800 and it was available on CDMA
networks.

Then they developed smart phones and a phone combined mp3

player towards the end of the 20th century. To this date
Samsung are dedicated to the 3G industry. Making video,camera
phones at a speed to keep up with consumer demand. Samsung
has made steady growth in the mobile industry and are currently
second but competitor Nokia is ahead with more than 100%
increase in shares.