Samsung has reportedly lowered the shipment expectations for the Galaxy S21 smartphones, even before they have actually gone on sale. The latest line-up of the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, which includes the Galaxy S21, the Galaxy S21+ and the Galaxy S21 Ultra phones, was unveiled earlier this month and succeeds the Galaxy S20 series. In fact, Samsung had decided to move forward the announcement thus year, in what seems to be an attempt to get the first mover advantage in the Android smartphone market, specifically for new launches. Last year, the Galaxy S20 phones were announced in February. Nevertheless, the shipping estimates don’t really indicate a sudden surge in overall sales of the new phones.
According to Korean website The Elec, Samsung estimates that they will be shipping around 26 million units of the Galaxy S21 smartphones this year. This figure, if you look carefully, isn’t much higher than the shipping numbers for the Samsung Galaxy S20 series last year, an year blighted by the coronavirus pandemic and the economic uncertainty as a result. It is reported that Samsung expects to ship around 10 million units of the most affordable phone in the line-up, the Samsung Galaxy S21, while the Samsung Galaxy S21+ will see shipments of around 8 million units globally while the flagship Galaxy S21 Ultra will also clock similar shipment figures. In fact, Samsung expects to sell more of the Galaxy S21 Ultra than they estimated the Galaxy S20 Ultra last year.
It is safe to say that the next month, when the new Samsung Galaxy S21 series of phones will be up for sale in most countries, will be critical in terms of taking advantage of the initial excitement and momentum. The prices of the new Galaxy S21 phones start at Rs 69,999 and there are a bunch of preorder cashback offers and bundles that you may be able to take advantage of. The new Galaxy S21 phones go on sale in India on January 29 but anyone who preorders any of the three new Galaxy S21 series phones have started getting deliveries of their orders from January 25.
Yet, before anyone perceives a depressing scenario for Samsung’s Android flagship phones, it has to be understood that the fairly conservative estimates in line with the 2020 estimates could indicate two lines of thought from Samsung. First, they do not want a situation of oversupply of incoming components or a scenario where the production lines overproduce and then the inventory pileup happens. Secondly, Samsung seems to be expecting some continuity in the limited spending patterns of users as a continuity of the financial uncertainty that many face globally, as the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt.
The conservative estimates may perhaps also indicate that the true to definition Android flagship phones, with the more expensive price tags, may not exactly be something that is priority spending for users. At least for the time being. But does this mean the end of the true Android flagship phone? Unlikely, but one thing is clear—the more affordable Android flagship options, particularly from the likes of Xiaomi and OnePlus, have clearly changed the dynamics quite considerably.
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