Time to Strike is Now

For the longest time the global smartphone scene has been dominated by Apple and Samsung. However it looks like the winds are starting to blow in a different direction. “Missteps” of both companies have paved the way for other brands to finally grab valuable market share, especially on the lucrative premium smartphone segment. The question is if they will rise to the occasion or they will just be business-as-usual?

If ever there’s a time to be blood thirsty, ruthless, and insanely competitive, this is it. Issue with Apple? The lack of the headphone jack with the iPhone 7. It doesn’t have to be a factual weakness, it just needs to “scare” the market or give them a reason to doubt the infallible position of Apple.

Speaking of fear, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 takes that emotion to a whole new level. Rumors are already circulating that Samsung already stopped production and we can’t really blame them. While the replacement units have arrived locally already for the Note 7, we’re not sure yet if they will still sell as well given the PR nightmare that they’re in.

There are clearly chinks in the armors of the two giants and this is a rare opportunity for the other brands.

LG V20, Google Pixel, ASUS Zefone 3 Series, etc.

First up we have LG. Their latest flagship, the LG V20 has received a lot of good reviews. They’ve already started teasing this locally but they need to improve the image of their brand locally so that they clearly stand for something. They’re bound to lose if it’s just a battle of specifications.

Next up we have ASUS with the ASUS Zenfone 3. We believe that these guys are in a good position to attack Samsung because of their “affordable luxury” position. The Zenfone 3 devices are really competitive in terms of specs and prices. While the new line-up is more expensive than the previous generation Zenfone, they’re still a strong alternative. Other brands such as Huawei and Oppo are also in the same boat as ASUS given their product line-up.

Lastly we have Google. The Google Pixel line-up is potentially not just an iPhone Killer as it can also cause major damage to Samsung. However we doubt that Google can make a big splash here in the Philippines because they don’t have strong local distribution. They’ll have to fix that if they want to enter the country’s hardware scene.

In short — these companies have rare window to launch an all out offensive to gain more customers from the two giants. Unfortunately we’re not seeing them go for the kill. All of them are business-as-usual here in the Philippines which is definitely a good thing for Samsung and Apple. They should be asking for more marketing and sales budgets so they can double down now that there’s blood in the water.