Samsung keeps rolling out price cuts in an attempt to save itself

Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, Korea’s two major companies, have cut down their main products prices in China, the world’s largest market. This is to deal with low-priced Chinese competitors and a price-cutting race with leading global competitors. Samsung Electronics announced on Aug. 5 that it has recently marked down the prices of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge by 800 yuan (US$129 or 150,256 won), respectively, in China. The price for the 32 gigabyte Galaxy S6 has been reduced from 5,288 yuan (US$850 or 993,192 won) to 4,448 yuan (US$722 or 842,936 won), while the price of its curved variant the Galaxy S6 Edge has been decreased from 6,088 yuan (US$979 or 1.14 million won) to 5,288 yuan (US$850 or 993,192 won). The price adjustments came only four months after the official release of the two flagship models in China in April. Industry watchers say that this is largely due to Samsung’s measure to reclaim its supremacy in the Chinese market. In the second quarter, Xiaomi Inc. took up the largest share of 18 percent in the Chinese smartphone market, followed by its local rival Huawei Technologies Co. with 16 percent. Despite the increase in sales of the iPhone, Apple ranked third with 12 percent. Samsung Electronics came in fifth with 9 percent, which was lower than Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivo with 10 percent.