MWC 2015 Witnessed The Most Important Smartphone Launch Of The Year: The Samsung Galaxy S6 And S6 Edge [Analysis]

At MWC 2015, Samsung announced what would qualify as the most important smartphone product launch of 2015. The new Samsung Galaxy S6, accompanied by the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, will either further cement Samsung’s prowess as the world’s leading smartphone maker or hurt them like no other product has hurt its maker before.

Why is this launch so important? Well, this has the potential to decide whether or not Samsung’s reign comes to end. Samsung’s mobile business has recently seen a dramatic decline in profits. In Q3, 2014 Samsung witnessed a whopping decline of 74% year-over-year in its mobile business along with reporting a 60% decline in company-wide operating profit. This was their 4th consecutive quarter in decline.

How did the company which has remained the world’s leading smartphone maker for a while land itself in such a big mess? Samsung blames it on higher marketing costs and stiff competition. But to be honest, it is the competition at large which is responsible for its current woes.

The years that saw Samsung rise to the top saw it dominate two particular markets – the budget phone markets in countries such as India and China and the high-end smartphone market across the world. It was able to dominate the former because of lack of competition from local players and it dominated the latter because of lack of competition from the likes of Apple Inc. However, all of that changed last year.

Local players like Xiaomi Mobile and Huawei Mobile are finally coming into their own and offering world-class value-for-money smartphones. This hit Samsung in local markets as they saw themselves being pushed to second place in China by Xiaomi. When it came to the high-end smartphone market Apple finally released smartphones with bigger screens and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ helped Apple win back some of their lost market share from Samsung.

To top it all, the Galaxy S5, Samsung’s previous flagship product, proved to be a dud. With increasing resentment among customers and analysts predicting their over-hyped demise the launch of their latest flagship products was going to prove critical for Samsung’s mobile business. This is why the launch of the two Galaxy phones, especially the Galaxy S6, holds tremendous importance not only for Samsung, but also for the current smartphone market.

Going by the specs and the first impressions of the Galaxy S6 the phone seems to have lived up to what Samsung claimed it was – their best phone yet.

The Galaxy S6 is a 5.1 inch beast powered by Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with TouchWiz. The phone boasts of an Octa core Samsung Exynos processor with 3GB RAM and 4G support. The phone also boasts of a 5 megapixel front and 16 megapixel rear camera along with a 2550 mAh battery. Those are great specs. And then there is the Galaxy S6 Edge. The S6 Edge is just what its name suggests it’s an S6 with a slightly different, or should we say, a slightly bent, edge. The specs on the S6 are almost identical to the S6 and the only real difference is in the design.

These 2 smartphones are loaded with specs and have posses probably Samsung’s best hardware yet. They also boast of a world class look and feel; that is something which hasn’t been associated with Samsung phones in the quarters gone by. Well, they are here and indeed they look promising.

This time around Samsung has put its money where its mouth is by entering not one but two high quality, high-end phones in the market. The iPhone 6 and the HTC One M8 finally have some real competition from Samsung. Samsung will do well to utilize their phenomenal marketing reach and make these phones visible to the global consumer.

While the weapon of choice looks spectacular, in a war, what truly matters is the grit that accompanies the arsenal. The ensuing quarters will soon reveal what becomes of the South Korean giant – a behemoth or a dying breed.