April 30, 2024

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A view of Samsung Mobile Store in Seoul. (Yonhap)

With just a week to go to Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Unpacked event, all eyes are on whether the launch of the flagship Galaxy S22 smartphones will be affected by supply chain issues.

Recent rumors have suggested that the smartphones succeeding the S21 lineup -- Galaxy S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra -- could be subject to supply-side issues, which could delay shipments following the Unpacked event.

Marketing materials distributed to mobile carriers in the United States for the S22 and S22 Plus were pulled back, suggesting they might not be available until March 11, according to technology blogger Jon Prosser. The S22 Ultra would be available from Feb. 25, he said.

“The S22 lineup had a bit of a snag due to a supply chain issue,” Prosser said in a video on YouTube channel Front Page Tech on Tuesday. “Now the actual shipment and the availability have been staggered a little bit.”

The forecast for the new products’ pricing is also mixed. Prosser said prices for the S22 would start at $799, like its predecessor, S21, but another blogger who goes by the username TechInsider indicated a $100 price hike for the S22.

These are among the rumors surrounding the new smartphone, with another hot topic being which mobile processor the phones will house -- Samsung’s Exynos or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon.

Samsung has yet to confirm whether the Unpacked event, scheduled for midnight on Feb. 10, will feature the announcement on the S22, but its head of smartphones division, Roh Tae-moon, hinted at the launch of the “most noteworthy S series device,” that is likely equipped with an S Pen, in a note in January.

The smartphones follow the Galaxy S21 FE 5G, a low-cost S21 variant unveiled during the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 held in January.

There are also expectations that the Unpacked event will feature other gadgets, such as the Galaxy Tab S8. Samsung has been taking preorders for both the next Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone brand with nearly 20 percent of the global market share by sales, is gravitating toward premium smartphone lineups amid stagnant growth in its smartphone sell-through.

In 2021, Samsung’s global smartphone sales grew 0.9 percent from a year prior, while its competitors, Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo logged two-digit growth in sales, according to an estimate by market consultancy Counterpoint Research.

By shipments, Samsung’s smartphones grew 6 percent to 271 million units, beating Apple’s 238 million, a Counterpoint Research estimate showed.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)