Samsung Has a New Smartphone named “Boss”

In its yearly re-shuffle of top management, Samsung has finally let go of its long-serving head of mobile Jong-kyun Shin, the man who presided over the stellar growth of Samsung's Galaxy smartphone series, along with its recent decline. Shin, who is sometimes referred to as JK Shin, will be replaced by Dong-jin Koh, who was vice president of research and development at Samsung Mobile.

Shin will remain one of Samsung's three co-chief executives, a role to which he was appointed two years ago. Rumors had been circulating since 2014′s management reshuffle that Shin might be on his way out, but it appears that Samsung Electronics vice chairman, Jae-yong Lee, chose to give him another year to improve the division's prospects. (Lee is the only son of chairman Kun-hee Lee, who has reportedly remained bedridden since a heart attack in May last year.)

Shin oversaw Samsung Mobile for six years and fostered the development of its juggernaut Galaxy Series. He spoke frankly about some of his partners, for instance pointing to lacklustre demand for Samsung's Windows-based products in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2013. He added then that Samsung Mobile aimed "to grow faster than the overall smartphone market."

In reality Samsung's growth began to stall in early 2014 as Apple AAPL -1.80% experienced something of a renaissance in demand for its iPhones, particularly in China, while lower-cost Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi and Huawei also ramped up sales. Like an echo to the problems that faced Nokia some years ago, Samsung's mid-priced smartphones have been getting squeezed on both the high end and low end by its competitors.

The phone that was supposed to get Samsung Mobile back on track, and protect Shin's position, was the most recent Galaxy S6 and its curved screen version, the S6 Edge. The devices got positive reviews from the technology press, but Shin fumbled on predicting high demand for the S6 Edge, which left Samsung facing stock shortages while sales of the S6 got off to a disappointedly slow start.

Samsung is still the world's largest smartphone vendor by shipments, with 23.7% marketshare in the third quarter of 2015, according to Strategy Analytics – but its share of the pie is shrinking. Samsung had 24.5% of the market last year. The two companies eating into its growth are Huawei and Apple.

Dong-jin Koh is said to have a stronger background in software than his predecessor, which may hint at a greater focus on software for Samsung Mobile in the near future. Shin had presided over the merging of Samsung's Tizen and Bada mobile platforms in an effort to shift Samsung away from its reliance on Google GOOGL +1.56%'s Android, but the resulting OS failed to find mainstream popularity.

Source: Samsung Has a New Smartphone named "Boss"