Galaxy Note 8 launch and business gains for Samsung

Galaxy Note 8 costWayne Lam, principal analyst, mobile devices & networks for IHS Markit, estimates that Samsung is spending more money to make Galaxy Note 8 — which supports Gigabit LTE speeds — than the previous versions.

Samsung can make more revenue and profit thanks to the advanced features of Galaxy Note 8 from Samsung. Apple will be launching its latest smartphone shortly.

IHS Markit said Samsung added new display, camera and computing capabilities to the new Note 8 smartphone which will be available with top telecom operators in the US and Europe along with data offers.

Bill of Materials (BOM) cost of producing Note 8 will exceed those of all previous generations of Note models.

IHS Markit estimates the BOM cost for the Note 8 smartphone will be well over $300. This would equate to a retail pricing of nearly $1000 given similar gross margin assumptions.
Apple smartphone share in Q2 2017
The above chart prepared by Canalys indicates that smartphone market share of Apple and Samsung during Q2 2017.

Ian Fogg, senior director, mobile & telecoms for IHS Markit, said that the launch of Galaxy Note 8 demonstrates Samsung’s confidence in its design expertise because of the strong similarities between the Note 8 and the Galaxy S8 and S8+.

Galaxy Note 8 should be the most successful Note smartphone for at least three years because the company launched the advanced phone in all regions. Samsung did not launch the last model, Note 5, in Europe.

In 2014, the Note 4 and Note Edge shipped 9.8 million in the fourth quarter which represented 14 percent of all Samsung’s shipments. Note 5 shipped 4.4 million in its most successful quarter, representing 5 percent of Samsung shipments.

Note 8 will increase the addressable market for Daydream VR because the Note 8 will be compatible out of the box. Previously, Samsung offered support on Galaxy S8 and S8+ only through a software update which became available in summer 2017.

Qualcomm Technologies revealed that its Snapdragon 835 mobile platform is powering the Samsung Galaxy Note8 smartphone in select regions.

Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform, a chipset manufactured using 10nm FinFET technology, integrates Snapdragon X16 LTE modem supporting Gigabit LTE speeds. It features Qualcomm Adreno 540 GPU, delivering up to 25 percent faster graphics rendering compared to Adreno 530.

The Snapdragon 835 features Qualcomm Mobile Security platform with security for biometrics and device attestation that comes with Galaxy Note8.

“Featuring biometric security, Gigabit LTE speeds, immersive multimedia, photography and powerful compute performance, the Samsung Galaxy Note8 powered by the Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform is designed to support all of the mobile experiences users need and demand,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president and general manager, mobile, Qualcomm Technologies.

The Snapdragon X16 LTE modem supports Gigabit LTE speeds and upload speeds of up to 150Mbps, a significant improvement over the previous generation.

Galaxy Note8 features Qualcomm Signal Boost, the adaptive antenna tuning technology for carrier aggregation, designed to deliver a more consistent voice and data experience, indoors and outdoors.

An advanced RF front-end, which includes Qualcomm Technologies’ envelope tracker, aperture tuners, BAW filter, extractor, low-noise amplifiers, impedance tuner and diversity receive modules, enhances the signal performance, power efficiency and thermal performance of the Galaxy Note8.

“The selection Snapdragon 835 mobile platform to power the Samsung Galaxy Note8 enables us to provide customers with the best possible mobile experience encompassing advanced connectivity, security, imaging, virtual reality and machine learning,” said TM Roh, executive vice president, head of R&D, hardware, Samsung Electronics.