Samsung’s Galaxy S IV gains ample pre-launch momentum

TAIWAN: The "Samsung Galaxy SIV China Market Report" from Avanti, a research division of TrendForce, reveals that Chinese consumers are closely following the Galaxy SIV's development and are highly interested in purchasing the device.

The overall interest in the handset has apparently become so high that more than half of the iPhone users surveyed are considering making a switch to Samsung. With the help of the Galaxy SIV, the Korean tech company looks poised to increase its dominance within the Chinese regions, and is in good shape to continue chipping away at Apple's existing China market share.

Samsung's promotional efforts for the Galaxy SIV, in a way, can be said to have gone reasonably well; of the Chinese participants surveyed by Avanti, roughly 61.2 percent claim that they've been aware of the SIV handset since its initial announcement. The high extent of the consumers' awareness is not only an indication of the Galaxy S series' growing reputation, but also evidence of their potential to take on the iPhone in any market.

Of the participants who are currently aware of the launch of the Galaxy SIV, 39.6 percent reveal that they are "highly interested" in keeping track of its related news and development; Another 39 percent--from the same group of people--admit to being only "moderately interested" in following such news. A positive correlation is implied to exist between the number of “highly interested" participants and the number of "moderately interested" ones, given the nearly identical set of percentage figures.

Looking at the different gender and age groups surveyed by Avanti, it turns out that the majority of the participants concerned about the Galaxy SIV are either male or above the age of 30. Among the 44.9 percent of the participants who show willingness to purchase the Galaxy SIV, the proportion accounted by the two said segments also appears to be noticeably large.

In the "pricing preference" department, a good majority of the participants reveal that they would be willing to pay between 3000 to 3999 RMB for the Galaxy SIV; Approximately 23.3 percent are willing to pay between 4000 to 4999 RMB, while close to 20 percent are willing pay over 5000 RMB.

Interestingly, both male and female participants from Avanti's sample show varied levels of preferences for smartphone features. Although the two gender groups are generally interested in a smartphone's "display resolution," male participants show higher preferences for features such as "processor type," "screen display effects," and "remote control capability."

Female participants, on the other hand, prefer "local network sharing," "simultaneous front and back camera use," and "automatic photo organization." Whereas the male participants have more of an obvious liking for hardware-related features, the female group's preference tends to revolve around a smartphone's overall software capability.

With respect to the specific Galaxy SIV features, the male segment shows a high degree of interest in super AMOLED display, processing unit, and front and back camera. The female segment also exhibits a strong liking for the AMOLED display, but ranks the importance of the SIV's camera features over that of its processor.

Compared with their female counterparts, male participants show a greater concern for "4G Connectivity" and "multi sim card" Female participants, on the contrary, generally like the "automatic photo organization" and "instant translation" features more than the males participants do.

Nearly 58.4 percent of the existing Samsung users from Avanti's sample are currently interested in purchasing the Galaxy SIV; The proportion of the iPhone users thinking of getting the new Samsung smartphone is also alarmingly large--at 52.4 percent. Aside from Xiaomi, more than 40 percent of the users for brands like Nokia, HTC, Huawei, Lenovo, and ZTE are contemplating on giving the Galaxy SIV a try.

The fact that more than 50 percent of the surveyed iPhone users are thinking about switching to the SIV should to be a concerning sign for Apple, whose China market share is only 9.6 percent. In the event that the Cupertino company is unable to come up with something remarkably unique or innovative following the SIV's release, its gap with Samsung, according to TrendForce, is only likely to become more and more apparent.