Samsung's smartphone marketshare in Japan is so low the company is considering pulling out of the market to avoid ongoing losses. The company's Japanese smartphone marketshare came to only 4 percent at the end of 2014 compared to Apple's 30 percent thanks to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus's popularity.
Samsung's smartphone failure in Japan has the company looking at pulling out of the market
Industry insiders speaking with Business Korea said Samsung is facing a scenario where it's going to lose money in Japan's smartphone market and the company is looking at its options. Samsung had hoped its Galaxy Note Edge would give it the boost it needs in the country, but in the four months after its launch managed to sell only tens of thousands of units instead of millions.
Samsung's smartphone marketshare is declining in the country even as Apple's is on the rise, no doubt causing even more frustration for the giant electronics company.
This wouldn't be the first time Samsung pulled out of a Japanese market. It stopped selling televisions in the country in 2007 after grabbing only 0.1 percent of the market.
Pulling out of Japan's smartphone market would do more than bring an end to a money losing proposition, it would also help preserve Samsung's image as a top selling smartphone maker around the world. That said, if Samsung finds it can't effectively compete against Apple and other smartphone makers in other markets, it'll have a hard time maintaining that perception.
For now, Samsung will have to decide if Japan's market is worth the fight. It's losing money and potentially damaging its reputation, plus the product it hoped would take off in the country flopped. So much for Samsung's smartphone world domination plans.