Samsung Galaxy S5 Day 1 in Dubai: Sell-out... almost

In contrast to last year’s rush during Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone launch in Dubai, this year the going has been rather steady, with not much rush being reported at retail outlets on Friday, April 11 – the day the new spearhead smartphone from Samsung’s stables went on sale in the UAE and across 150 countries in the world.

Read: Samsung Galaxy S4 Day 1 sales: Fans mob store

Jacky’s Electronics operates three Samsung branded stores in Dubai, and maintains that the Day 1 sales figures for the Samsung Galaxy S5 were encouraging although it didn’t reveal the actual numbers, citing client confidentiality.

“Due to confidentiality agreements we have with Samsung for our Samsung branded stores, we can't disclose our exact sales figures… but I can say we got a few hundred units allocated to us and managed to sell a good majority of this on day one,” Ashish Panjabi, COO of Dubai-based Jacky’s Electronics, told Emirates 24|7.

Does he expect a stock shortage at some point? “We are expecting further inward shipments shortly so while there may be stock out situations within this week, we’re working with our supply chain partners to bring in more stocks as soon as possible,” he told this website.

Nevertheless, the lack of crowd – or overcrowd – on Day 1 doesn’t mean that sales aren’t brisk; it just means that sales aren’t as brisk as that of the previous iteration of the Galaxy S series – or that of rival Apple’s iPhones during the first few days of launch.

With new smartphone launches becoming a monthly affair, It could also be indicative of user fatigue, with shoppers not really excited to lay their hands on these handsets as and when they are rolled out in the market. Read: UAE resident shy to upgrade smartphones

It’s also possible that, this year, a number of potential customers are booking it through the two telecom services providers, both of which had opened up online pre-booking facility for the Galaxy S5 days in advance of the device going on sale in physical stores. Read: How to be first in UAE to flaunt Galaxy S5

With the carriers, retailers, and Samsung having made it a lot easier to pre-order the smartphone for delivery on launch day, customers don’ necessarily even have to step out of their houses to get the Galaxy S5. By contrast, Apple makes it much more difficult to pre-order an iPhone or iPad, with supply restrictions limiting the number. For some, the only way to get an iPhone is to wait at a store, and that may also explain the difference between the Day 1 crowds – or the lack of it – at Samsung and Apple stores.

In addition, the Galaxy S5 launch does lack a bit of lustre if only because there has been no major design change in the device since the Galaxy S3. The look and feel of the Galaxy S5 are similar to the Galaxy S4, its predecessor, but the new Samsung smartphone does borrow a little bit from its other industry peers to offer a solid value proposition to the customer.

The new Samsung smartphone is water and dust resistant (like the Sony Xperia range of smartphones); it comes with a finger scanner that acts as a screen-lock password (like the Apple iPhone 5s); and supports wireless charging (like Nokia Lumia 920 and many others).

While these may not be industry firsts, it is perhaps the first time they’re available in the same device. And that isn’t all – the Galaxy S5 does have a few of its own tricks up its sleeve as well. Read: Galaxy S5 launched in Dubai... Sorry M8, better luck Nexus time.

In the end, though, even if Samsung may not be interested in replicating the long queues and rush phenomenon of an Apple launch day, it remains the biggest smartphones seller in the world, having sold 86 million smartphones in the last quarter of 2013 and 320m for the whole year. By comparison, No. 2 ranked Apple sold 154m iPhones in the whole of 2013, of which almost a third (51m) came during the final quarter of 2013. 

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