According to an unofficial report spotted on Hankyung by Ubergizmo, Samsung has shipped over 10 million units of its latest flagship in about 25 days. This news is slightly bitter sweet for the company which keeps on being the favorite worldwide, but is seeing a steady decline in its growth rate.
Samsung’s previous flagships had taken longer to reach the 10 million mark, with the S3 achieving that in 50 days and the S4 in 27 days. With an increasing number of operators carrying Samsung’s S flagship on launch day every year, as opposed to delaying its release by weeks or months, this narrowing of the time it takes the company to ship 10 million units is expected. However, it isn’t as significant as it should have been, raising the question of declining growth rates for the Korean giant. Of course, 10 million units of one particular model isn’t a number anyone should scoff at. Many other companies are struggling to reach that total of shipments in a full quarter for their complete portfolio of devices. The slowing growth rate is, however, one more indicator of the rise of the Chinese manufacturers and their low to mid-range devices eating away at Samsung’s potential sales. In slightly happier news for Samsung fans, Chitika, an advertising network, has released some interesting information about the Galaxy S5’s adoption rate in North America. By looking at online ad impressions following the phone’s release in the U.S and Canada, Chitika found the Galaxy S5 responsible for more than 4% of Samsung’s total smartphone traffic 25 days after it’s release. By comparison, the Galaxy S4 only took 2% of Samsung’s traffic in the 25 days following its release in 2013. While these numbers are relative to Samsung’s traffic and not to all smartphones, they are indicative of an upward trend in adoption and web usage for the Galaxy S5. We will still have to wait and see if the Galaxy S5 breaks the S4’s total sales record, and whether it helps the company keep on growing, despite the rising competition.
