Samsung Tests the Market, Launches the Galaxy S23 in the Sluggish Mobile Market

JAKARTA - Samsung Electronics launched its newest premium smartphone with a focus on its powerful camera on Wednesday, February 1st which tested the strength of its brand as the mobile phone market is currently experiencing an unprecedented severe contraction.

Analysts say the Galaxy S23 series of smartphones, with cameras and chips that are faster than their predecessors, could still face weak demand as consumers spend less amid surging inflation in a struggling global economy.

Acknowledging the challenges, Samsung's head of mobile experience, or MX Business, told reporters in a press briefing after the event that there was a "true shift to the premium segment" in emerging markets. "We intend to focus on the premium segment in developed markets as well as some countries where we see solid growth", he said.

The smartphone maker showed off the S23 Ultra's performance at the Samsung Unpacked event in San Francisco with footage of two films, "Behold" by Ridley Scott, director of "Gladiator" and "The Martian", and "Faith" by South Korean director Na Hong-jin, both were filmed using top-of-the-line Galaxy smartphones.

This is Samsung's first 200-megapixel camera sensor, and this series uses Qualcomm Inc's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile processor. Qualcomm says that with the S23 series, 100% of the processor used will be from Qualcomm.

At the event, executives from Samsung, Qualcomm and Alphabet Inc's Google gathered on stage to highlight their partnerships in the XR space, which includes virtual and augmented reality.

Anshel Sag, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said the three worked together in the XR space about a decade ago.

"I think it's designed to give Samsung and Google a little bit more credibility in the XR space, as they've both been absent for quite a while on the hardware side of things", Sag said.

In the United States, the basic Galaxy S23 will be priced from US$ 799 (IDR 12 million) and two versions with higher specifications, the S23 Plus and S23 Ultra, start at $999 (IDR15 million) and $1,199 (IDR18.1 million) respectively. Samsung is keeping prices at the same level as last year's model despite rising component costs

However, global smartphone shipments saw their biggest-ever decline in a single quarter in the October-December period, when they fell 18.3% from a year earlier to 300.3 million units, according to data released by research firm IDC last month. The figures cast doubt on forecasts of a moderate recovery in the mobile market this year.

In that difficult environment, analysts say Samsung's mobile strategy will centre on profitability through premium offerings, including the S series and foldable phones.

"Samsung can no longer focus on increasing volume", said Liz Lee, associate director at research firm Counterpoint. "It must boldly simplify low- and mid-range products, a part of the market that many Chinese competitors control."

Samsung said on Tuesday, January 31 that the decline in sales of low-end and mid-range smartphones in the fourth quarter was bigger than expected.