Samsung is rolling back on the visibility of its Brand Logo on its latest flagships, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in Japan. As per reports from The Korea Herald, Samsung’s S6 and S6 Edge phones would go on sale from April 26th, without company’s brand name on them.
While Samsung is ditching its own branding, these flagships will be branded along with carrier names. They will be marketed as Docomo Galaxy and au Galaxy, named after their Japanese telecom service carriers.
A Samsung official, while talking about the development said to The Korean daily,
We think the Galaxy brand has been well established in Japan.
Samsung’s decision comes even as the world’s largest smartphone maker has yet to gain a firm footing in the neighbouring country.
Moreover, Samsung’s rebranding campaign isn’t just limited to its smartphones. The company recently change the name of its official Japanese Facebook page to Galaxy Mobile Japan, and also got the marketing material redone to remove its own name.
Samsung’s rebranding campaign, though looking like a regressive attempt, is actually due to a wide variety of reasons. The Korean company continues to fall behind in sales by even much smaller rivals like Sharp or Fujitsu, and the ongoing tensions between Korea and Japan have made the problems even worse.
According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung made up a mere 5.6 percent of Japanese smartphone sales last year, as against its 25.1 percent global market share. Apple continued to dominate with 40.8 percent of the market, followed by Japanese players such as Sony (18.1 percent), Sharp (12.4 percent) and Fujitsu (8.8 percent).
