Despite a decline in demand for devices like smartwatches in the first half of the year, Samsung remains hopeful that new products and marketing strategies will drive a turnaround in wearable device sales.
Recently, Samsung unveiled its latest Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 foldable smartphones, along with the Galaxy Watch Ultra, Galaxy Watch 7, and true wireless Bluetooth earphones Galaxy Buds3 Pro and Galaxy Buds3.
Samsung noted that thanks to the strong sales of the Galaxy S24 series, the sales revenue of smartphones priced above US$600 grew by 15%, resulting in a 7-8% year-on-year increase in Samsung's smartphone sales revenue, outperforming the overall market.
Regarding smartwatch sales, Samsung stated that from January to May 2024, the overall smartwatch sales volume decreased by 15% compared to the same period in 2023, with sales revenue also dropping by over 11%. However, Samsung's smartwatch sales volume and revenue grew by 2% and 7% year-on-year respectively. In addition, earphone products saw a nearly 30% year-on-year increase in sales revenue.
Samsung believes that the high penetration rate of the wearable device market and the wide range of products from brand manufacturers make it relatively challenging to fully display these items in physical stores. This is why significant growth opportunities will be hard to come by in the future wearable device market.
To boost sales, Samsung plans to introduce a more comprehensive product lineup to cater to different consumer groups. Additionally, the company will enhance efforts to bundle wearables with smartphone sales, using methods like add-on purchases to attract market attention. Moreover, Samsung will strengthen product experiences to boost consumers' purchase willingness.
Samsung emphasized that consumer brand preference for Samsung grew by over 40% year-on-year in 2023. The proportion of new young users also increased from 13% to 43%. To align with trends, besides continuing to optimize products, marketing, and sales channels, Samsung will also seek cross-industry collaboration opportunities with sectors like music and gaming to boost its brand power.
Furthermore, Samsung highlighted that its Galaxy AI ecosystem is more complete than its competitors. By continuing to empower its products with AI, Samsung aims to create a greater differentiation in brand value and product strength over its peers.
