Tipster says that Samsung could be making major changes to its flagship lines
by Alan FriedmanTwitter tipster Ice universe (@UniverseIce) believes that Samsung has seen the future and the future is in foldables. As a result, the tipster says that Samsung is making changes and that certain models will no longer be considered a "flagship" phone. If you were to look at the handsets that Samsung has released since the beginning of this year, the models that would be considered "flagship would include the Samsung Galaxy S line (Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G) and the Galaxy Note 20 series (Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G).
Tipster says that Samsung could drop Galaxy S and Galaxy Note models from flagship status
But in a series of tweets pushed out on Friday and Saturday, Ice universe says that Samsung has now moved its focus to foldables. As the tipster said in a tweet posted today, "If you think the Galaxy S21 series is not powerful enough, don’t be surprised." In other words, Samsung could start considering its Galaxy Z phones as its "flagship" models containing the latest and greatest features.
Tipster Ice universe says that Samsung is looking at its foldables as flagship models instead of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note units
As the tipster points out, "You will find that the A series of high-end models have disappeared, and Note20 looks like the A series. There are signs that Samsung can weaken the S/N series and regard the Z series as the true flagship." If that is actually how Samsung sees things, it would be a major change and have some interesting real world effects. First, we would then expect the foldable devices to get first crack at new features while the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note phones would no longer do so. The foldables are already priced like flagship phones so we don't foresee any changes on that front. But on the other hand, we could see price reductions for the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lines.
Of course, this would be all based on the assumption that Ice universe's tweets do capture the company's current thinking. He already has said that "there are signs that Samsung can weaken the S/N series and regard the Z series as the true flagship."
The Galaxy S20 series did not perform terribly well. For example, data computed by M Science and published early in May showed that during the line's best week, it delivered less than 200,000 sales and has been under 100,000 since the fourth week. On the other hand, the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S9 peaked at sales of 500,000 and 400,000 units respectively. And during its first 10 weeks on the market, both phones constantly reported more than 200,000 phones sold each week.
If Sammy does follow through on this rumored change, things like the company's marketing budget will change along with how Samsung allocates supplies for production. Samsung's first Galaxy S phone was released on June 2nd 2010. The Galaxy S II was arguably the first Samsung phone to be universally praised and we gave the device 9 points out of a possible 10. That was topped by the 9.3 score we awarded the Galaxy S III. The Samsung Galaxy Note, with its 5.3-inch display, was the first to top 5-inches. Launched in 2011, the first Galaxy Note received a score of 7 out of 10.
If Ice universe's report is true, Samsung obviously has plenty of confidence in its foldable phones. The entire sector is still basically new and the current pricing guarantees that most of the public cannot yet afford to own one. Eventually, component pricing will come down, the U.S. economy will recover from the pandemic, and more consumers will be able to afford a Galaxy Z phone. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is currently priced at $1,999.99 while the Galaxy Z Flip 5G will run you $1,449.99.