Samsung has a problem brewing at home – young Koreans are increasingly switching to Apple Inc.'s AAPL iPhones over Samsung's Galaxy. In fact, millennials and Gen-Z are buying more than twice as many iPhones as Galaxy smartphones.
What Happened: Samsung's home market, South Korea, has seen a radical shift in the smartphone preferences of young millennials and Gen-Z, with 65% of them buying iPhones while only 32% went with Samsung Galaxy smartphones, according to a Gallup Korea survey.
This is a 13%-point increase in iPhone's share amongst young users aged 18-29 years when compared to 2022.
It is also in sharp contrast to buying preferences of older people – Samsung has immense brand loyalty in users aged between 40 and 69 years. According to the survey, up to 85% of users in this group buy Samsung Galaxy phones.
Millennials And Gen-Z Prefer Expensive Phones: Surprisingly, the millennials and Gen-Z users are increasingly buying iPhones because they are more premium and expensive than Samsung's Galaxy phones. For context, the iPhone 14 128GB variant costs 1.25 million South Korean won, while the Galaxy S23 costs 1.15 million South Korean won.
Another reason behind the sharp decline in Samsung's Galaxy phones share in this age group could be the Game Optimization Service (GOS) controversy. Samsung was found to be throttling over 10,000 apps and games on its smartphones last year. Users, especially the young ones who are avid gamers, started switching to iPhones, and that trend seems to continue a year later.
However, Samsung's upcoming foldable phones could flip these users back into the Galaxy orbit. According to a Counterpoint Research report, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 outperformed the iPhone in 2022. With the 2023 batch of Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 launching this week, Samsung might breathe easy again.
Image Credits – Shutterstock
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