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Tuesday, 21st April 2015
In Business In Japan,
Samsung drops logo on its phones in Japan
Samsung has announced it will no longer carry the company's logos on its phones in Japan from this week (April 23rd).
The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will instead be co-branded with mobile carriers Docomo Galaxy and au Galaxy, both of which will be launching the phones. It is still unclear on the exact reasoning behind the decision, but a spokesperson told the Korea Herald newspaper that it was down to the Galaxy brand having been well established in Japan.
Industry experts have also pointed to the tense diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, the latter of which is Samsung's native country. While these tensions have seemed to have cooled since the election of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2012, Samsung has still struggled to gain a foothold in Japan.
According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung holds just five per cent of the smartphone market in Japan, compared to the 51 per cent share by Apple, and the 25 per cent domination Samsung has all over the world. It is mostly Japanese firms, such as Sony, Fujitsu and Sharp, that control the market in the country. It is hoped that these new devices will reverse Samsung's fortunes, having suffered several quarters of plunging profits and booming sales of Apple's iPhone 6. Apple now holds the position of biggest smartphone seller in the world — a position Samsung had held since 2011.
It's not the first time branding has been sparse in Japan. While the company's name was still on the back of the phone, the Galaxy S5 only featured the carrier's branding on the front where the Samsung logo typically appears.
Samsung is yet to fully comment on why the logo has been removed.
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Apple files appeal against Samsung ruling (17th October 2012)
Sharp's shares rise after Samsung deal announced (6th March 2013)