Isn't GS4 by definition dead on arrival?

[crester]

I'm still thinking the GS4 isn't going to work out for Samsung. Not the way they want and expect it to. It is supposed to be an iPhone competitor. To do that it needs to sell north of 40 million. Mediocre reviews, a high price and only incremental build quality improvements leads me to think that they won't reach that number. It is a great phone from what I've seen. But the HTC One seems just as good. And for the GS4 to reach its numbers it needs to sell in huge quantities months after its release. I don't think it is going to do that.
Note that the huge sales numbers reported is for a global launch, unlike anything any other company has ever been able to pull off. It is an impressive display of logistics and manufacturing ability. But it also makes the numbers like 6 million sold in first month not exactly a fair comparison with iPhone launches which have been in far less numbers of countries initially. And I heard very little word of shortages, suggesting there isn't a ton more demand out there.
Again, I'm feeling like the GS4 has to sell 40 million this year to be a success. And it has to sell those numbers at at least a $600 price point. Anything less is not going to be a real success.
But DOA is way to strong a term, I was wrong there.

Why do you think your opinion matters so much? The Samsung SGS4 is selling well... why do you feel the need to keep insisting it's not successful?

 

[Johnny Roberts]

Yeah, I never get the point of negative threads just for negative sake.

 

[Carl Sanchez]

Why do you think your opinion matters so much? The Samsung SGS4 is selling well... why do you feel the need to keep insisting it's not successful?

Op deep down inside wishes he rolled with the gs4

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[Ry]

I'm still thinking the GS4 isn't going to work out for Samsung. Not the way they want and expect it to. It is supposed to be an iPhone competitor. To do that it needs to sell north of 40 million. Mediocre reviews, a high price and only incremental build quality improvements leads me to think that they won't reach that number. It is a great phone from what I've seen. But the HTC One seems just as good. And for the GS4 to reach its numbers it needs to sell in huge quantities months after its release. I don't think it is going to do that.
Note that the huge sales numbers reported is for a global launch, unlike anything any other company has ever been able to pull off. It is an impressive display of logistics and manufacturing ability. But it also makes the numbers like 6 million sold in first month not exactly a fair comparison with iPhone launches which have been in far less numbers of countries initially. And I heard very little word of shortages, suggesting there isn't a ton more demand out there.
Again, I'm feeling like the GS4 has to sell 40 million this year to be a success. And it has to sell those numbers at at least a $600 price point. Anything less is not going to be a real success.
But DOA is way to strong a term, I was wrong there.

In terms of sales volume as it relates to the iPhone, the only competitors to Apple are phones with a Samsung logo in them (GS3, GN2, GS4).

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[jokout1]

personal feelings aside, no matter what device/brand you carry in your pocket, the sales numbers for the S4 are remarkable! At the time S3 sales were concidered excellent, matching what the S3 sold in 50 days in half the time is nothing short of amazing, setting sales records for any Samsung device to date! While I figured the S4 would be a great device for Samsung, I will be the first to admit that I had my doubts that it would be THIS successful! We will see if this continues!


Cheers

 

[JonCBK]

OK, let's get the numbers right first off...The GS4 has officially sold 10 MILLION units in 25 DAYS! Exactly half the time it took the S3 to reach this platue! This was accomplished before Verizon, the largest carrier in the US even started selling them!!! Factor in Verizon being a bit limited on high end choices that will work in Samsung's favor also!
While it is too early to know if the S4 will be the runaway train that the S3 was and is, this may be more a product of expectation then real numbers! I find it hard to imagine that anyone will be able to call it a failure, and DOA is just silly!

Cheers

Yep, I got my numbers wrong. I should have used the 10 million mark. But I actually see this more as an impressive feat of engineering than necessarily proof of adequate demand. Samsung launched the phone basically in the entire world during this month. That is impressive from a logistic standpoint. They are reporting as sales the phones they ship out. We all know that this might not equal actual sales to customers. Now I'm sure that every GS4 shipped will sell to a customer eventually. Heck, they might have sold already. But this is a global launch. And to hit their target, they basically have to sell 5 million this month and every month for the next six months. And they need to do that at a price around $600 per phone. The sell through numbers on that 10 million needs to be darn near 100% in order to get all the carriers and third party sellers out there to order another five million for the month June. There aren't going to be new markets opening up for this phone in July to keep the sales numbers high. This phone is basically in every big market now, right? (I could be wrong there. Let me know if I am.)

Anyway, I'm just speculating. The DOA statement that I made when I started the thread was clearly wrong. But I'm still curious what the long term demand for the phone is going to be. It seems like a great phone. My friend has a GS3 and he loves it except its terrible battery life (he has started using two external chargers during the course of his day and if we stay out late at a bar, his phone will still often die before the end of the night, but he does fiddle with the darn thing all the time). I've seen the GS4 in person and it seems really nice.

But the sales expectations for this phone is very high.

 

[JonCBK]

Unless DOA = Doing Overly Awesome, there aint no DOA here. That said, the 10 million is sell-in and not sell-through to consumers. It is easy to get one and are not selling out at the moment. It is easy to find them, unlike the S3 last year. The 10 million will take a little time to sell through. Maybe they will take the time to build up stock for Verizon and others with 32gb models! Not.

To hit 40 million mark, the 10 million can't take time to sell through. Samsung needs to ship millions every week and keep doing that for months. I think this is going to be hard. Demand will just have to be huge to do this. And I'm not hearing about too many sell outs, so I'm not sure if the demand is there at the necessary scale.

 

[another1ofyou]

Well I bought it. I find it entertaining how speculation before facts were known were used as main arguments by the author of this thread. I was a GS2 owner and planned on riding that monster until it's wheels fell off.... they fell off. The power button jammed, turns out the little micro switch on the main pcb board broke, so I'm waiting for a new one in the mail so i can solder it on to board of the gs2 and keep it as a back up. I was thinking about the HTC One, but I tether via usb for internet a lot and that kills battery. I like to have the option to change that when the time comes, so that was a big deal to me. HTC Makes a good quality phone and I've always enjoyed the feel of cool metal in the palm of my hand in the morning. The lack of micro sd slot and the previously mentioned battery fiasco left my hands tied to the sg4 and all of it's 7 gb of bloatware. which I'm halfway tempted to root the unit just to free up the space. Its features are great for wowing friends, but I probably wont use them a lot. I barely mess with the thing to be honest. Although I did download Iron Man 3 and it won't open. Thats frustrating.... and an eighth of my device storage to boot. I purchased the 16 gb. But nonetheless I will rock this phone until it takes a crap on me. It will suite my needs nicely. Im not too big a gamer. I really do basic stuff with the thing. The LTE is nice it really boost my speed......... Holla

:-D

 

[pego99]

Yep samsung is shipping only dead galaxy s4. I am even writing this on my dead s4. You johncbk are a genius........ Not.
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