The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge proved to be one of the biggest hits Samsung has had in recent years, winning over both consumers and critics with their combination of glass and metal that brought a new degree of quality to smartphones.
Now, the South Korean phone maker's new flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge, are poised to overtake their predecessors as both units are outselling the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in just their first month.
Analytics firm Counterpoint Research revealed on April 7 that the S7 series is currently enjoying better sales performance during its opening month compared to that of the S6 series. This is based on the results of Counterpoint's sell-through survey on smartphones across 40 countries.
In the United States, sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are up by 30 percent, while in Western Europe, sales are up by 20 percent.
The Samsung S7 series is also doing well in the Chinese market, posting a 10 percent increase in sales compared to those of the S6 series during the same period last year.
"The U.S. is a key and very strong market for Samsung where there is high percentage of premium devices sold like the Galaxy S7 series," Jeff Fieldhack, director of Counterpoint Research, said. "Moving the launch to early March was a great strategy for Samsung."
Fieldhack added that Samsung carriers and retailers in the U.S. all wanted to boost traffic to their stores during the first quarter of the year. This was done through various enticing promos for the S7 series, such as buy-one-get-one deals and bundles featuring the Samsung VR headsets.
Data from Counterpoint's sell-through survey shows that Samsung was able to ship as many as 10 million Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge units. In March, sales of the two new smartphones in international markets were already 25 percent higher than those of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge in their opening month.
While the competition between the Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6 started out very strongly, demand for Apple's flagship smartphone has waned in recent months, leaving the Galaxy S7 to reap the benefits of its decline.
Photo: Andri Koolme | Flickr