The situation is not ideal over at Samsung. While the company is still the number one worldwide smartphone manufacturer, it is slowly losing ground both to second place Huawei, as well as to itself by comparison. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong even reportedly criticized Koh Dong-jin, CEO of Samsung Electronics’ smartphone business, and ordered a massive improvement in the camera department, reports the Korea Herald. Other rumors are concerned about CEO Koh’s position, as Samsung is approaching the time of the year when it usually reshuffles personnel.
Koh said that he is making all efforts to turn things around and seek a breakthrough with the upcoming Galaxy S10 and the first commercially available foldable smartphone. “Sorry about the currently struggling status of the Samsung smartphone business and will do my best to overcome the crisis with the upcoming Galaxy 10 and foldable phones”, he reportedly said in a corporate message to executives and employees.
An unnamed insider cited by the Korea Herald said that “Koh’s message appeared to show how much of a critical position Samsung’s mobile business is in at the moment. The atmosphere within the company is currently serious as we hear outside criticism toward the products”.
Samsung is expected to impress the world with the Galaxy S10 or X. It is reportedly going to impress by lacking bezels and having a high performance in-display fingerprint scanner. The foldable smartphone, expected to be the Galaxy F, will be an in-folding tablet that shrinks into a phone. The Korea Herald notes that both of these phones will be unveiled in February (maybe MWC?) and available in March,