Samsung Galaxy A57 to Feature Chinese OLED Displays Amidst Market Shifts

The smartphone market, which had grown for two consecutive years driven by artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, now stands at a crossroads of growth slowdown this year. This is because the prices of various components used in smartphones, including memory semiconductors, have surged sharply, and if these increases are directly reflected in sales prices, demand is highly likely to contract compared to last year. Samsung Electronics and Apple have already announced price increases for their new flagship products to be introduced this year—the Galaxy S26 and iPhone 18 series. To respond to such cost increase pressures, Samsung Electronics has taken an unprecedented move -- to adopt Chinese organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays for its next mid-range model, the Galaxy A57. The Galaxy A is a mid-range lineup one tier below the Galaxy S, targeting customers sensitive to price changes as the main consumer base, where pricing has a particularly significant impact on purchasing decisions. The Galaxy A series serves as a flagship model not only in the United States, where both premium and mid-range demand are high, but also in India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, where purchasing power is relatively lower. However, Samsung Electronics received disappointing results in emerging strategic markets last year. While Apple’s introduction of the iPhone 16e—its first new mid-range product in three years—in early last year had an impact, the primary cause is analyzed to be the intensified cost-effectiveness offensive from Chinese brands offering Android-based smartphones. Samsung’s local market share declined even in Vietnam, where the company has heavily invested and focused efforts. Vietnam is a strategic market with rapidly expanding 5th generation mobile communication (5G) infrastructure and rising consumer purchasing power, but Samsung’s local market share in the first quarter of last year, when the Galaxy S25 was launched, remained at 28%, down from the previous year’s 31%. Meanwhile, Chinese brand Xiaomi expanded its share from 20% to 23% during the same period, and Oppo increased from 15% to 17%. Samsung Electronics is known to have adopted CSOT’s Chinese displays as a way to turn the crisis factor of rising price pressures that could lead to demand slowdown into an opportunity. While component price increase pressures are variables that increase uncertainty, the strategy is that deploying various supply chain securing strategies could actually help recover market share lost in emerging markets and elsewhere. Xiaomi’s recently launched Xiaomi Ultra 17 also saw its launch price rise about 10% compared to its predecessor, showing that Chinese companies are not exempt from the wave of price increases. If Galaxy A minimizes price increase ranges to lower purchasing hurdles, it could serve as an opportunity to brake the growth of advancing Chinese companies. Moreover, Samsung Electronics faces an urgent situation to recapture the global smartphone throne it surrendered to Apple last year. Since the annual global market leader is determined by marginal market share differences of around 1%, Samsung internally views the success of the cost-effective Galaxy A as a major weapon to overtake Apple again. While the Galaxy A series receives relatively low attention domestically, Galaxy A series models are included in large numbers among the top 10 best-selling smartphone models worldwide each year, more so than Galaxy S models. Industry analysts suggest that Samsung Electronics, having achieved vertical integration, holds an advantageous position in securing cost competitiveness compared to other companies. This is because it receives memory supplies—which constitute the largest portion of smartphone components—from affiliates under the same roof, and also sources substrates and camera modules from electronics affiliates. An industry insider evaluated, “While most manufacturers are helpless against component price increases from external partners, Samsung Electronics has an unrivaled structure that allows flexible adjustment of supply and pricing for core components through its intra-group supply chain.” Meanwhile, not only smartphone but also laptop, tablet, and other information technology (IT) device industries are busy preparing survival strategies to overcome the wave of component price increases. Global laptop manufacturers including Lenovo and Framework are considering raising new product prices while reducing memory capacity in laptops. Dell is making multifaceted efforts to offset the impact of price increases, including reducing discount benefits previously offered to major clients for bulk purchases, in addition to pricing policies. A TrendForce market research firm representative said, “Some laptop manufacturers are actively pursuing installation of older memory like DDR4,” adding, “They are also working on optimizing essential software functions and background processes to offset the impact of reduced memory capacity.”