You’re going to hear me repeat a phrase over and over again during the next few months, that the mid-range market is where all the new excitement will be. That’s not to say that flagship devices will be less awesome, they’ll always be fascinating from a geek’s perspective, but from a market’s perspective, all the opportunity for growth is now in more affordable devices.
Earlier this week, a Samsung smartphone was certified by China’s version of the FCC. All that was known about the device at the time was that it would ship with a 5.25 inch 720p display and run Android 4.3. Today, several new details have leaked. The SM-G7105, which some are referring to as the “Galaxy Grand II”, will have a quad core 1.2 GHz processor, 1.5 GB of RAM, and 4G LTE. More importantly, this is a phone that will be headed to Europe, which means an American release is likely.
Who exactly will want a 5.25 inch phone that looks like the Galaxy S4, but has inferior specs? Again, people who don’t want to spend $700 on a phone. If Samsung wants to be aggressive, they can launch this thing at a sub $300 price tag, making it highly attractive to people who might not otherwise be able to buy the Nexus 5.
That’s also another thing. Yes, the Nexus 5 is a bargain, but it’s not sold globally at the same $349 price tag as it is in the United States. In some places it easily sells for double that, meaning it competes with the best devices from LG, Samsung, Sony, HTC, and others.
Something to consider.
