Samsung Ponders Executive Shakeup As Galaxy S5 Sales Fall 40% Short Of Expectations

Samsung is looking long and hard at its top executive team with changes in mind, the Wall Street Journal reports, following Galaxy S5 devices sales that have underperformed company expectations by as much as 40 percent. The total sales for the S5, this year’s Samsung flagship device, are at around 12 million, compared to 16 million for the Galaxy S4.

As a result of the lacklustre performance, Samsung is said to be looking at stripping co-CEO and mobile leader J.K. Shin of his chief executive title, and putting him solely in charge of the mobile unit. Overarching mobile wing supervision would then fall to co-CEO B.K. Soon, who currently heads up Samsung’s home appliance and TV business, which continues to be a strong area for the Korean company.

A more unified management team could help bring together the various elements of Samsung’s business, including its recent SmartThings acquisition with its Galaxy line of devices. And while Samsung would indeed be simplifying its executive team, it wouldn’t be streamlining things entirely – a third co-CEO, Kwon Oh-hyon, who overseas the company’s semiconductor and display panel supply businesses, would reportedly remain where he is.

Samsung is said to still be selling strong in the U.S., but other key markets, including China, are seeing negative growth in new device sales. The firm needs to do something to shake up its mobile business – despite the fact that it’s still a market leader, short-term growth is trending downwards and mid- to long-term performance has seen stagnating sales at best.

Part of Samsung’s answer to this problem will reportedly be paring back its Galaxy line to simplify costs and choices for consumers. Diversification of its offerings to suit different sub-groups of market segments has helped Samsung grow its business in the past, but at this point, its ever-expanding lineup of devices could be doing more damage than good in terms of diluting the Galaxy brand overall, and leaving consumers unsure of where to look in choosing their next hardware upgrade.

Article resource:  Samsung Ponders Executive Shakeup As Galaxy S5 Sales Fall 40% Short Of Expectations

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Optical Image Stabilization comparison

Both Samsung and Apple scored a first with their new phablets: Optical Image Stabilization. That's right, both the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the iPhone 6 Plus are equipped with the gizmo, promising to minimize and correct for shake and tremor during video capture. 

Sure, an OIS module's usefulness extends beyond just video – if the software is optimized for it, it'll also free up the camera to go for slower shutter speeds, and that's beneficial when shooting in dark environments, as the tiny sensor can use any help it can get taking in as much light as possible. This is achievable, because the stabilizing contraption will essentially nullify tremor in your hands (yes, they tremble even if you think you're keeping perfectly still), and thus, side-step blur. In other words, while OIS is, strictly speaking, hardware, it is of little use if it receives no proper support from the camera software. 

Starting with Samsung, the company calls its particular implementation "Smart OIS", which is just a marketing term that refers to the joined efforts of the aforementioned widget and Digital Image Stabilization on the software side. Much the same arrangement is also true with the iPhone 6 Plus – OIS is implemented alongside software stabilization, which Apple chose to call Cinematic Video Stabilization.

So how do these two handle themselves, and is one better than the other? The truth is that they're about equally good in stabilizing shaky footage, but they different in terms of the kind of scenarios they handle best. For example, in our experience, the Note 4 was better at minimizing small to medium amounts of shake, while the iPhone 6 Plus outdid it when real jerky movements were involved (arguably less common). Even with that distinction, though, we still think that we have a situation close to a stalemate at our hands, but we ended up liking the Note 4 just a bit more. Take a look.

 

Article Resource:  Note 4 vs iPhone 6 Plus: Optical Image Stabilization comparison