Samsung Galaxy S3 Delayed Until Summer?

According to Samsung, the Galaxy S3 smartphone will not be released until later this year. This move by Samsung is a reported attempt to increase sales throughout the year through its current lineup.

With a record number of phone sales in 2011, Samsung has seen a successful year and has bragging rights over its Galaxy S2 being the strongest current competitor to Apple's iPhone 4S. Samsung is still enjoying strong phone sales and does not want to jeopardize that success by releasing a new phone that will detract from its current selection of top-of-the-line phones.

Generally, Samsung reveals its new phones – along with tentative release dates – at the Mobile World Congress showcase but has decided to follow in its competition's footsteps and hold its own event later in the year to debut the Galaxy S3. The phone maker issued an official statement that read: “The successor to the Galaxy S II smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product”.

Samsung is eager to Reclaim its place as the number one phone maker in the world, which was recently taken from them by Apple. Imitating Apple's success, Samsung will debut its phone in an event later this year reminiscent of how Apple reveals its new products at its own events rather than at a all-around mobile event such as CES or MWC.

Another reason the phone is being delayed is due to the Galaxy S2's monstrous success; still selling like hotcakes, Samsung doesn't want to risk stunting one phone's success in order to give that success to another phone. Motorola has learned from this dilemma as it released several Droid versions in 2011, with each selling only a modest number due to the constant flow of new Droid devices. Motorola announced at CES in October that it would begin to focus more on the quality of devices and less on the quantity, with it releasing far fewer phones in 2012 than in 2011.

There seems to be a trend occurring throughout the business models of cell phone manufacturers, many of which are realizing that the constant flow and change of technology is leading to slimmer profit margins on each new release. HTC has also announced that it will release fewer cell phone models this year.

Even though this may lead to less competition, mobile users tend to agree. Nearly 50% of all cell phone users believe that cell phones are released too often and have difficulty keeping up with all the new technologies that come with them. By trickling out a slower stream of devices, companies hope to avoid overwhelming potential cell phone customers who are looking to upgrade their devices.