All eyes are on Samsung right now, as the company is less than a month away from its first in-person Unpacked event in a few years. The star of the show will be the Galaxy S23 trio, which will feature innovations such as a 200-megapixel camera. But things will be different come 2024.
According to a report from Korea’s The Elec, Samsung has only greenlighted two flagship phones for 2024. Code-named DM1 and DM3, these are likely the vanilla Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Ultra, with no intermediate DM2 model filling the shoes of a Plus model.
The plans can change down the road, but for now, it appears that Samsung isn’t too keen on making a Galaxy S24 Plus. It’s both good and bad news, but ultimately, market dynamics decide the fate of a product. The best example of this is none other than the short-lived “mini” iPhone lineup.
Apple’s loss rattled Samsung
According to the report, the S22 Plus only accounted for around 17% of the entire Galaxy S22 series’ sales. The priciest Galaxy S22 Ultra model commanded a lion’s share of the sales figures, while the entry-level
But it’s not just Samsung that felt a Plus-sized sting. DigiTimes reports that sales of the iPhone 14 Plus have also been lower than expected. Most of the buyers are gravitating toward the Pro models that offer the best of Apple’s smartphone tech and are a few hundred dollars pricier.
After all, if someone is willing to spend $900 on a midtier model, why not go the extra mile and spend another couple hundred to get the latest and greatest
Going into the
The Plus makes sense
The
First, you end up with a battery that really won’t last you a full day, especially if you plan on pushing the powerful chipset inside or aim to take a lot of photos. After all, what good are all those megapixels if you can’t put them to the test?
You also end up with a smaller screen. Yes, it’s handy and pocketable, but it’s not really the best way to stream content or play games with crowded on-screen buttons. Plus, a smaller chassis means worse thermal management.
I routinely came across the overheating issue on the
The fickle perk/pricing equation
Recommending a flagship phone, especially when it has two or three siblings with varying benefits and different pricing, isn’t really a cakewalk. But if one were to look beyond the specs sheet and view things from a buyer’s perspective, the puzzle becomes easier.
A person approaches a flagship phone series for one of two reasons. They either want the best that’s on the table, irrespective of the price, or they seek to get a taste of perks like a top-tier chip, great build, and dependable cameras without nuking their wallet
The latter class is where the base flagship models like the
It doesn’t make a lot of sense from a value perspective, because the
Bold plans ahead
The
The company recently tapped Hubert H. Lee to lead its Mobile eXperience (MX) Design Team, which is responsible for products like the Galaxy S series and foldable phones. Lee is an auto industry veteran who previously served as the chief design officer of Mercedes-Benz and has over two decades’ worth of experience under his belt.
Will Lee revolutionize the Galaxy
We’re also hearing rumors that Samsung is working on a chip exclusive to Galaxy smartphones. The chip won’t come from the Exynos division. It will be designed by the MX team, the same division that Lee is going to lead. As per The Elec, that exclusive silicon arrives in 2025
TM Roh will reveal the latest information on the "Galaxy dedicated chip" at the
Galaxy S23 launch event. pic.twitter.com/yw7e8KcxxL— ICE UNIVERSE (@UniverseIce) January 8, 2023
But here’s the tricky part. Large-magnitude changes require handsome capital, while big money is made from top-end phones. Samsung knows that all too well. Maybe nixing the Galaxy S24 Plus will allow Samsung to better deploy its resources by focusing on only two models, an affordable baseline flagship and a fully decked-out Ultra trim.
If that’s the approach Samsung takes, and it actually helps the company make better phones, I’m all up for canceling the Plus model. But if the entry-level Galaxy flagship still suffers from battery, screen, and thermal woes in 2024, it would go down as an ill-fated move.
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