Samsung may be getting ready to launch their Galaxy S4, but this doesn't stop them from working on a thousand and one other devices, especially in the very lucrative emerging markets.Samsung may be getting ready to launch their Galaxy S4, but this doesn't stop them from working on a thousand and one other devices, especially in the very lucrative emerging markets.
Samsung have plenty of devices in the low- to mid-range market, such as the Galaxy S3 Mini, but they're also wanting to hit the super low-end emerging markets, such as India and Indonesia. These markets are pretty much controlled by feature phones, with Samsung clawing considerable amounts of the market share with devices in the sub-$100 market.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the South Korean electronics giant has seen their market share in Indonesia rise from just 2% in 2010, to a market-dominating 50% in the last quarter.
The double-edged sword here is that some are worried Samsung's goal of meeting the low-end demands will hurt their bottom line, with analysts calculating that Samsung's operating margin on these low-end devices is around 12% - less than half of what they make on high-end devices. But, the bright side of this is that once they build their relationships in these emerging markets with consumers, they'll eventually (maybe not today or tomorrow, but a few years from now) jump into the mid- to high-end devices.