Let’s not try and pretend the “Emperor” is wearing any clothes. Samsung is not inspiring consumer to spend more on smartphones.

From the Galaxy S10 to the S21, sales of premium Galaxy phones have fallen sharply. At the same time Apple increased sales of more expensive iPhones significantly.

The Average Selling Price of a Samsung phone in 2021 was around $270. The ASP of an Apple smartphone was over $800.

A recent list of the top selling phones in 2021 listed only one Samsung device, the Galaxy A12. The A12 starts at $179.99. The top selling phone of last year was the iPhone 12, which had a starting price of $799.

For fans of expensive phones, there is no metric by which we would judge this as success. Overwhelmingly, it would seem that when consumers have the means to buy more expensive phones, they opt for an iPhone.

Samsung significantly outspends almost every other company in marketing (currently trailing Amazon and Proctor and Gamble), but that doesn’t seem to be winning the hearts and minds of consumers. Lopsided coverage of expensive Samsung products on YouTube isn’t making up the difference.

Is Premium Android doomed?

I’m writing this as a fan of expensive phones.

I have no issues spending a lot of money on capabilities that help me save money somewhere else. If I spend $1000 or more on a phone, I have expectations that it should help me achieve a high level of work. When traveling, if I pack a premium phone and a handful of accessories, I’m often able to leave expensive camera gear and my laptop at home. I don’t sacrifice much in terms of quality and work flow, and my load is lighter.

I’m not trying to sound like an elitist, but I don’t have a lot of patience for people who complain about phone prices. We techies have done a miserable job of explaining the benefits of expensive phones, but for most of the comments I read, expectations are significantly off the mark.

The majority of comments I read where people say “$1000 is just too much to spend on a phone”, are coming from people who likely wouldn’t be taxing a $400 phone much. Their needs are covered at a much lower price. If you’re likely to use a $1000 phone the same way you would use a $400 phone, then of course the expensive phone won’t be worth it.

If you’re like me though, and you’re trying to use that $1000 phone to replace $5000 worth of laptop and camera gear, it’s an absolute bargain.

I find very few reviews that cover more advanced use. We might get a token effort to look at some gaming. You might see a run of synthetic benchmarks. The reviewer rarely does much more than poke around and read the specs.

But I digress.

Buying something expensive is EMOTIONAL

While I have extremely practical reasons for why I enjoy premium tier gadgets, I still like to FEEL good about the purchases I make. I’m a zealot for competition. I like supporting underdog brands, but even I know that the overall health of “Premium Android” is tied to Samsung. For better, or much MUCH worse, Samsung will suck most of the air out of that conversation.

I believe one of the critical issues facing Galaxy phones is marketing.

Samsung has never been able to sustain a consistent message in their ads. We’ve followed a trend of bullying with a halfhearted attempt at being aspirational. Samsung made fun of Apple customers waiting in lines. Samsung made fun of notches. Samsung took shots at Apple employees. Samsung made fun of features lacking on the iPhone (then also removed those features).

That path of advertising was mean-spirited and hypocritical. It creates the absolute worst brand “ambassadors” who also enjoy bullying in comments on YouTube videos.

The recent shift to phony aspirational marketing rings about as hollow. Apple has primed their customers with feel-good messaging for decades. Samsung proclaiming “Everyday Epic” or “Do What You Can’t” are just awkward exercises in contradiction. They aren’t inspiring.

The Pandemic Did It?

It’s interesting to see the consumer response after two years in a pandemic. The social pressure to show off a fancy new gadget has never been lower, but the emotional high of buying something nice has never been more precious.

At a time where people weren’t flexing fancy phones face to face, Apple moved more of their consumers UP the food chain. More people were buying current iPhones instead of year-old iPhones, and more people were buying the nicer iPhones instead of the cheaper iPhones.

The exact opposite happened with Samsung. More people moved DOWN the Galaxy food chain.

Increasingly, the public’s perception of “Android” is “Cheap”.

It reminds me a lot of the classic Mac vs PC days. My relatives who would compare a new expensive Mac to their old cheap Dell. They would only mention the brand names, ignoring the actual price and quality differences. A “Mac” was better than a “PC”.

Especially in North America, an old iPhone is viewed with more desire than a current top of the line Samsung. That’s not an opinion. What sales data we can track from these brands, the Galaxy S21 sold in roughly the same quantities as the iPhone SE 2020. Samsung’s most “desirable” mainstream product had issues outselling an iPhone 7 with an updated SOC.

Can We Correct This Course?

I hope so. I honestly don’t know.

There’s a mountain of psychology to dig through, and that’s going to take a while to sort out. There’s an acceptance of Apple products that’s just not questioned. Instead of a conversation on pros and cons, media is inclined to just give Apple “The Win™” for better ad revenue. When there are legitimate issues with Apple products, they’re rarely covered with the same intensity as the praise Apple routinely receives.

Any other product is treated with far less kind assumptions. An Android needs to EARN its recommendation. That scale slides significantly. The goal posts are moved aggressively.

The same media who give Apple the general “Win”, when they’re restricted to ONLY Android products, they apply the same conditional thinking to Samsung. Samsung just gets the win (because Samsung articles and videos drive more traffic), and every OTHER Android needs to EARN its place in a comparison against Samsung.

There’s too much marketing money on the line to buck that trend.

Not SPENDING More But GETTING More

I’m not writing this because I want people to just spend more on products. When I see the ASP of an iPhone at over $800, I know too many people in my circles of family and friends that spent a LOT, but probably didn’t NEED to. I completely understand the idea. Apple gets flashed like a fancy purse label, and those family and friends wanted to “TREAT THEMSELVES”. It’s an emotional high. That’s fine.

Over the years however, I think the Android community has lost some of the edge that made expensive Android phones more interesting, diverse, and competitive. I’ve seen first hand where a feature like Dex or a Desktop Mode has helped someone not only save money, but actually improve their work over buying a cheap laptop. The most exciting advancements in camera tech are happening on the most expensive Android phones, and we’re literally pushing into territory that competes directly against mirrorless cameras.

Techies never show us this. They only repeat the same “truisms” about phones being used for the most basic applications. Why spend more to be “basic”? If you flash an iPhone XR TODAY, you’ll generally be regarded as socially “wealthier” than someone sporting a Galaxy S22 Ultra.

We’re losing those differentiators that separate Android phones from iPhones. LG leaving the market means that Samsung now occupies around 80% of the phone sales in South Korea. Their next closest competitor is Apple. Will the South Korean “style” of phone continue to innovate in an ANDROID way, or will Samsung just make their products more like Apple?

For the techie side of this conversation, I think it’s critical to examine what the market is actually saying. If your inclination is to say “but Samsung sells the most, so they must be on the correct path”, I have two points for you to consider:

• 1- Xiaomi and BBK brands OVERALL sell more than Samsung when combined by sub-brands.
• 2- More importantly, the market IS speaking and validating Samsung. Just not EXPENSIVE Samsung.

What do we see as Samsung’s overall sales climb? Consumer increasingly buy the phones they CAN NOT GET from Apple. Phones with headphone jacks, memory card expansion, and many still have chargers in the box. Phones with lifestyle features that literally do more for mainstream use than significantly more expensive solutions.

If Samsung wants to correct course, and inspire more people to spend up, making the Galaxy S more like the iPhone is probably a bad trend to follow. Folding phones aren’t getting it done. You still need to make a great PREMIUM expensive slate.