Samsung Electronics will reapply the ‘SAMSUNG’ logo instead of ‘Galaxy’ to products sold in the Japanese market. Following the recent recapture of the second-largest smartphone market share in Japan, it seems that the company is trying to develop its brand position with the new ‘Galaxy S23’ as a weapon.
According to the industry on the 18th, Samsung Electronics recently changed its mobile brand name, official website, and SNS account name in Japan from ‘Galaxy Mobile’ to ‘Samsung’. In addition, the logo on the back of terminal products sold in Japan will be engraved with Samsung, not Galaxy.
Samsung Electronics has been applying the Galaxy English logo to products in Japan since the launch of the Galaxy S6 in 2016. In most markets, including Korea, the Samsung logo is imprinted on Galaxy products.
Except for Apple, the Japanese market tends to avoid foreign products and prefer domestic products. Furthermore, in the case of Samsung Electronics, it was even affected by the escalating conflict between Korea and Japan that has continued for the past several years.
Various analyzes came out regarding the application of the Galaxy logo, such as that Galaxy was put forward instead of Samsung, which has low brand awareness, and that it was a bypass strategy to somewhat dilute the perception of antipathy once morest Korean companies.
However, it seems that Samsung Electronics’ share in the Japanese market has rebounded recently, gaining confidence.
According to Strategy Analytics, a global market research firm, Samsung Electronics’ share of the Japanese smartphone market last year was 10.5%, ranking second following Apple (56.1%). It succeeded in overtaking all Japanese companies in the Japanese market by pushing out Sharp (10.1%), which was in second place.
Samsung Electronics ranked second with a 10.1% market share in 2020, but the following year, its market share fell once more to 9.7%, losing to Sharp at 10%. After that, it increased its market share once more last year and regained the second place in two years. In the first and second quarters of last year, its market share soared to 13.5% and 12.2%, respectively, and showed a slight decline to 6.5% and 9.5% in the third and fourth quarters when new iPhones were released.
Samsung Electronics, which gained confidence by recapturing the second place in the Japanese smartphone market, plans to revive the Samsung logo from the Galaxy S23 series to be released in April. As long as the Galaxy S23 Series has been praised as a masterpiece in selected countries, including Korea, it is expected that it will be able to tow the rise in Samsung brand awareness and value in the Japanese market.
Regarding this, a representative of Samsung Electronics said, “The Galaxy brand has become highly recognized in Japan.”
[서울=뉴시스]
