We have become used to of Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities commenting on Apple products and sharing his predictions with the investors. This time, the prominent and highly respected analyst has come up with a pair of new reports related to Samsung Galaxy S8 and upcoming Samsung Note 8 devices.
Despite an earlier prediction that the Galaxy S8 “lacked attractive selling points” compared to Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8, Kuo has revised his Galaxy S8 shipping estimates due to an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the public for Galaxy S8’s bezel-less design. Kuo has also noted about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 8 which is expected to be unveiled later this year and how it will compare to the iPhone8.
Adoption of a dual-lens camera system is going to be the most important upgrade in the Note 8, Kuo explains. This camera setup will be capable of 3x zoom and will have a 12MP wide-angle sensor, a 13MP telephoto sensor, dual OIS, and dual 6P lenses. He also adds that Samsung’s dual-lens camera system will offer much better experience than that of the iPhone 7 Plus, and likely match that of iPhone 8.
It is worthing noting that the dual-camera design has been one of the top selling points of the iPhone 7 Plus. It has some great photography features such as Portrait mode that allows users to capture DSLR-like photos that focus on the object and blurs the background.
Talking about the Galaxy S8, Kuo said that his earlier reaction was base off his concerns related to the rear-facing fingerprint scanner and the lack of dual-camera system. But the response from the consumers has been overwhelmingly positive due to the device’s bezel-less design which has over-shadowed the other weaknesses.
According to our survey, market feedback to Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ (abbreviated as ‘S8’) has been better than expected since their unveiling. We attribute this to a better- than-expected selling point in the full-screen design. For this reason, we revise up our 2017F S8 shipments from 40-45mn units to 50-55mn units.
Apple is expected to introduce a nearly bezel-less design for its iPhone 8and perhaps a rear-facing Touch ID, and the response to the Galaxy S8 may also be in favor of Apple in the long run. However, it remains unclear whether the Apple is indeed moving the Touch ID on the back of the device or not.
KGI, like many other reports, still predicts a full-screen design for the upcoming iPhone 8, which Kuo notes is going to be the main selling point of the device.
We now expect full-screen design will accelerate penetration of the high-end smartphone segment over the next few years, thanks to adoption by S8 and the new 2H17F OLED iPhone model.
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