Samsung yesterday told Reuters that it will exceed its goal of selling 200 million cell phones in 2009. However, the company said that may not mean higher margins given the increasingly competitive smartphone market.
The South Korean OEM said that touchscreen phones were largely credited with increased sales, but added that the iPhone’s recent arrival to the Korean market may force the company to lower prices.
“Touch phones taking a bigger portion of handset sales will not likely have a significant impact on profitability because makers eventually have to cut prices to appeal to the wider public,” Hanwha Securities analyst Seo Do-won told Reuters.
Samsung said that touchscreens accounted for 20 percent of total phones sold this year. That’s up from 5 percent in 2008.
“What we have to set sight on is the smartphone market, in which Samsung is still weaker than Apple, RIM and Nokia. Samsung has strengths in high-function and hardware sides, but is weak in software and services compared with rivals,” Seo said.
Samsung recently announced the launch of its own Samsung OS, Samsung bada, which will be available to developers in December.
