Samsung Taiwan confident in demand for curved-screen phones

[Balrog]

Samsung Taiwan confident in demand for curved-screen phones

2015/08/18 19:14:35

Taipei, Aug. 18 (CNA) The Taiwan unit of Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone maker, expressed confidence on Tuesday that curved-screen phones will account for a greater share in Taiwan's smartphone market than the global average this year.

Simon Liu (劉嘉原), senior product manager of the mobile product marketing group at Samsung Taiwan, said at the launch of the Galaxy S6 edge+ flagship phone that there are a group of“heavy users”in Taiwan who prefer handsets that can“woo”buyers, such as the dual-curved display of the S6 edge+.

Based on initial demand for Samsung's previous S6 and curved-screen S6 edge that went on sale in Taiwan on April 10, around 60 percent of local consumers decided to purchase the S6 edge and 40 percent wanted the S6, Liu said.

Asked if Taiwan's overall curved-screen phone sales would account for a higher share this year than the estimated global share of 2 percent, Liu gave a positive answer as he forecast that the combined sales of Samsung's current lineup of curved-screen phones would exceed that figure in 2015.

Samsung has launched three curved-screen handsets in Taiwan since late 2014, including the Note Edge, S6 edge and the bigger-sized S6 edge+, which will go on sale in Taiwan next month at NT$26,880 (US$828).

Based on an estimated 7 million to 8 million smartphones sold in Taiwan each year, a 2 percent share would be the equivalent to 140,000-160,000 units.

Strategy Analytics forecast on Aug. 14 that curved-display smartphones will make up 2 percent of global total smartphone sales in 2015, in which the market research firm believes Samsung's S6 edge and S6 edge+ will contribute to“a dominating portion.”

"One point for sure is that the Galaxy S6 edge will further trigger the demand for curved display models in the U.S. and the rest of the world this year," said Linda Sui, director of wireless smartphone strategies at Strategy Analytics.

(By Jeffrey Wu)