Samsung needs to embrace innovation and show a bit of daring if it wants to stay competitive in the smartphone game with its next Galaxy device, writes Ewan Spence in Forbes. In his article, Spence points to the dangerous complacency of an approach focusing on incremental, iterative improvement and not looking enough for novelty.
As the industry awaits the Galaxy S6, Spence points to Samsung’s “iterative path of making everything slightly better than the last model,” and its status as “a fast-follower company in the smartphone world” pursuing “variants of a ‘me-too’ strategy”, and indeed, there’s something to that: Just this week, there have been rumours that Samsung is considering switching from its swipe-based fingerprint sensor to a touch-based sensor like the one employed in Apple’s TouchID system. Is it a bad idea to make that switch? Absolutely not; the touch-based system offers users greater convenience. But it’s hardly a strategy to stake some solid territory in the market.
Spence points to the untapped potential of innovations like The Edge – the curved screen that wrapped around the sides of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4; this, he says, is the kind of innovation that could make the smartphone world really take notice. It’s a good point; given the company’s apparent soul-searching as cheaper rivals continue to flood into the market, it is curious that it doesn’t try to latch onto such a flagship innovation. Despite its dominance in the prestige end of the market, rival Apple has shown itself to be determined in pushing its tech forward, with rumours circling just last week of forays into the development of advanced wearable camera technology, possibly for inclusion in a future smartphone or other mobile device.
Still, it’s too early to write off Samsung just yet; so far all we’ve had to go in discussing the Galaxy S6 is speculation. But the company would be wise to consider the importance of innovation, as Spence suggests.
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