He does some of the time; but never intentionally.
Here's what I've heard in this thread:
Samsung's going to replace the Tab S to coincide with Android L
Has there ever been an example of a whole-scale Samsung device upgrade or replacement tied to a new Android release? I can't think of one. Usually Samsung launches on whatever's out and upgrades devices in newest to oldest order. They've even launched devices on older Android versions when newer ones were available because they didn't have time to move to the new Android version and didn't want to delay the launch. The Note 4's launching with 4.4 and Android L is coming out in a couple of weeks and I'd bet Samsung's had it in their labs for weeks or months. Using the logic applied here the Note 4 will have a three month lifespan and be superseded by the Note 5. And the Note 4 is a
very important device volume wise.
Barry I think that's aimed at the original post I made?
Can we be clear, I didn't say it was going to happen, I asked a question whether people thought it might happen. Questions require the poster to listen to the reasoned responses and then make a weighted decision based upon those responses. Statements pre suppose a bias or pre disposition to a desired outcome.
The Tab 7.7 is a relevant example of a device being abandoned and the S could suffer the same fate
Some folks here don't agree with me that it was intentionally priced to limit its sales; perhaps due to AMOLED constraints (or costs) or to drive higher margin. But people here have talked about unusual circumstances surrounding its launch. So if Apple's stop-sale did impact availability and sales isn't that an anomaly that doesn't apply here? Maybe Samsung intended to market the hell out of it and make it their volume tablet leader; outside events prevented that from happening by everyone here's admission. As for pricing, for whatever reason, the 7.7 was hundreds more than other same-size Android tablets. The S' are the same price the Pro's launched at which correlate to the Note-series going back to 2011. So there's a huge difference between the 7.7 and S in terms of their launch/lifespan and what pricing means/meant to the market. And before anyone throws in the Pro's, the S is the Pro. For whatever reason Samsung wanted to get to market with fresh high-end tablets and the S' weren't ready. It takes anywhere from six months to a year to go from concept to sales. So the S' were well under way when the Pro's launched. So the Pro's always were intended to have a short shelf life. We'll never know what the 7.7's future could have been because it wasn't a normal launch and was priced stratospherically compared to other Android tablets (which had 40% market share in 2011, it was 62% last year). The average selling price of a tablet this year is $381 and that includes Apple's products setting the high end. That's a lot of sub-$200 Android tablets driving the low end. The battle Samsung's actually fighting (starting with the 7.7) is convincing people that an Android tablet is worth iPad prices. So far, based on sales, they aren't there yet.
It's not that I disagree with your assessment, I disagree with your timeline and the inference you're drawing as a result.
As I said in an earlier post when the 7.7 was launched (Feb 2012) the only real player in town was the IPad and Samsung had designed (over-engineered) the 7.7 to be feature rich against the IPads then available. However within a very short number of months the Nexus 7 was launched (Jul 2012), the market then exploded with a whole range of tablets from me-too manufacturers trying to get in on the game.....but the Nexus had effectively set a benchmark price of $200 to play in the market. Not withstanding the legal issues Samsung was having with Apple regarding the 7.7 the reality was that their market had moved from a customer price expectation of $500+ to a $200 product in 3 months, I accept and accepted above, commercially they had to abandon the 7.7 from a sales viewpoint. What I take issue with is a perfectly acceptable piece of very expensive hardware did not get software updates for a sensible time afterwards, if they want to abandon the product fine, don't abandon the already invested customers though and that's what they did.
S-805/Exynos 5433 either with Android L or by themselves is reason enough for Samsung to launch a Tab S replacement
Has there ever been an example of Samsung launching a new global device or upgrading a series based solely on a new SoC being available? I can't think of one. To move a series up a version there's normally a slew of major (or presented as major) new features. Examples being a fingerprint reader, water proofing, thinner/smaller/lighter, superior camera, big display bump (720P>1080P), and s/w advances (new S Note, multiview, e-Meeting, Hancom, etc). And if you go back and look at their product launch presentations on YouTube they spend about 10 seconds talking about the SoC and even less discussing Android. That's because "stuff" sells mobile devices; not incremental gains in SoC and Android version.
Bottom line is this. Tablets aren't selling, especially at the high-end (see above chart). Replacing the Tab S with a Tab S 2 and the only difference between them being the latter getting Android L earlier (the S will definitely get it; it's too new not to) and newer but still quad and eight core processors isn't going to increase sales; at least not by themselves. Are there any examples of Samsung replacing a device with no improvements other than Android version and SoC? I'm not aware of any (and one-region-wonders like the LTE-A Korean devices don't count). And have you seen the early TW overlayed versions of Samsung's rendition of Android L? You can't tell it from 4.4. So with the Tab S having Samsung's current "latest and greatest" what other than a newer SoC and Android L will they put in the Tab S 2 to create the typical degree of separation from the device it's replacing that they have before?
So maybe some of the 6M XDA members (300M mobile devices were sold last year) are waiting for better SoC's before buying a S but I highly doubt the masses are. Samsung sold 8.5M tablets in Q2. And I'd venture a guess that 60-70% are low or mid range. They'll sell 8.5M Note 4's during launch week. The Tab S is important to this forum but it's not going to change Samsung's fortunes one way or the other; at least not in the next twelve months. If Samsung's going to shake up the mobile market it won't be with tablets because the velocity just isn't there (even including Apple's numbers); especially at the high-end we're talking about here. And you could say they did already shake up the tablet market by launching the industry's only 2K AMOLED displays that have won universal critical acclaim.
Over and out.
Sorry I'm a little confused now, on the one hand you seem to be arguing that the S (Jun 2014) replacing the Pro (Feb 2014) was almost for single reason and you seem to also be arguing that Samsung don't replace a model for a single reason but instead for a whole range of feature enhancements. This makes an interesting read....
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/129...msung-galaxy-tabpro-8-4-what-s-the-difference
I agree that high end tablets are not volume selling, but they do get a hugely disproportionate amount of coverage in the media and that leads to greater brand recognition and that leads to greater sales for your low end products as well.
Something to throw into the mix for all of this is Samsung are a vertically integrated business far more then most of the other players in the market, their products contain a much higher content of self designed and manufactured components. One thing I know is that when you've spent $2bn building a fabrication facility you have to ensure it's manufacturing and producing output 24 hours a day, that means you have to sell products at the retail point and that means if a current model isn't selling they'll replace it quickly to get another bite at the cherry (they're not as constrained by long lead times and inventory commitment as other tablet manufacturers).
I'm comfortable with all of this, as long as Samsung commit to support a product for 2 years worth of software updates after they stop marketing it so I know I get at least a three year life out of my purchase.
And lastly why would they launch a new version, I think you've sort of answered this yourself, to launch the first 64 bit tablet in the Tab S Slate with a Exynos 5433 chip inside will redefine the market and give them both lots of media coverage and lots of kudos in terms of maintaining their position as the market leader. These things have huge below the line commercial value and should not be lightly dismissed by the company with the biggest marketing budget in the world for 2013.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/samsung-14bn-marketing-budget-biggest-history-525979
I still await to see, the title of the thread clearly states it's speculation and I don't know the answer, but I'll not be surprised if within 90 days of Android L launch we see announced a 64 bit Tab S in some form or another.
