Samsung has launched its Galaxy Note9, the Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Home and a new partnership with Spotify.
Avi Greengart, research director: consumer platforms and devices at data and analytics company GlobalData, offers the following analysis of the announcements:
Galaxy Note9
The new Galaxy Note9 has top-of-the-line specs along with extras like plentiful storage, a stylus that acts as a remote shutter button, and the ability to dock like a computer with just a single cable.
Samsung is also getting more aggressive with battery capacity now that the Note7 recall debacle is well behind it.
The Note9’s 4,000 mAh battery directly addresses a key consumer pain point – consumers buying a premium phone want to be able to use it all day long.
However, the Note9’s improvements are iterative, and as consumers hold onto their phones longer, Samsung is having a hard time selling expensive phones that are not well differentiated from their predecessors.
While some carriers are offering generous promotions at launch, the Note9 is certainly expensive, starting at $999 for the 128Gb version.”
Galaxy Watch
Samsung’s Tizen-based watches already offered the best user interface on a smartwatch – the rotating bezel is intuitive to use. On the new Galaxy Watch, Samsung is adding to the utility with a daily briefing feature.
The Galaxy Watch comes in two sizes, with or without cellular connectivity, but all variants are fairly thick to provide multi-day battery life. Samsung is betting that consumers prefer battery life over form factor; Apple has made the opposite design decision.
Galaxy Home
Samsung is understandably concerned that it is missing out on a product category that combines consumer electronics, AI, and home automation – all areas where Samsung is making major investments. Amazon and Google are the leaders in smart speakers, with products starting as low as $40 during frequent sales. Apple was late to the smart speaker category, and has focused primarily on audio – it integrates seamlessly with Apple Music, and it sounds incredibly good for its price and size.
We do not know too much about the Galaxy Home – no pricing, availability, or detailed feature list was provided. At its Unpacked event, Samsung talked about improvements in Bixby, a new relationship with Spotify, and the fact that a SmartThings hub is built into the speaker.
However, Samsung will have a tough time competing with Amazon or Google on AI capabilities, consumers do not fully understand the value proposition of SmartThings, and Apple and Sonos are already jockeying for position as the premium audio choice.
Samsung and Spotify
Corporate partnerships like these often fail to bring the benefits they promise, so execution will be key.
But at least on paper this looks good for everyone: Samsung gets access to compelling content it needs to make its devices more attractive. Spotify gets a hardware partner to hedge against Apple’s vertical integration. Consumers get new features that tie various Samsung devices together while maximizing the utility of Spotify.