Google treats Samsung exceptionally well and they need to do the same
According to Android experts, Google is clearly giving Samsung a favor. This is a strategy by Google to capitalize on the popularity of Samsung phones. The experts added that there is nothing wrong or unusual for Google to do so.
There are many manufacturers that use Google’s operating system, but over the past few years, Google has tended to release certain software to Samsung before other companies.
For example, the recent Wear OS 3, Google has partnered with Samsung to bring it to the Galaxy Watch 4 as soon as possible. There are also other features like Duo, the launch of Live Share on Samsung’s Galaxy S22, and a partnership to make Google Messages the default messaging app for the S22.
Mishaal Rahman, senior technical editor at Esper and former editor-in-chief of XDA Developers, says there’s nothing wrong with Google doing this with its services.
He said: “Google has hundreds of Android partners, but they’re not obligated to treat all of them equally. Samsung is the largest global supplier of Android smartphones and tablets, so it’s certainly considered one of the best. Google’s most important Android partner.”
Rahman adds that the more important brands are, the more advantageous they are when it comes to negotiating revenue sharing agreements, mobile app distribution agreements, and marketing strategies.
More importantly, Rahman said that it was Google who had to ensure special favorable treatment for Samsung because “they are the biggest potential threat in ending Google’s domination of the Android ecosystem.”
He said: “Although it will be extremely challenging, Samsung can create an alternative to everything Google has to offer, except Google Play Services.”
Samsung is big and dangerous, and that’s why Google has always had a good relationship with this brand
Samsung is a manufacturer of many extremely good Android smartphones and has sales of about 300 million units per year, is the largest smatphone manufacturer in the world. In 2020, the Korean company shipped more than 267 million smartphones worldwide, accounting for 20.6% of the total smartphone shipments globally, according to Statista statistics. And in Q4 2021, Samsung’s market share is 19%.
Like Rahman, Jitesh Ubrani, research director at IDC, thinks Google wants to make sure it doesn’t lose market share and that it knows how valuable Samsung is.
“Samsung is necessary for Google to make sure it doesn’t lose customers to rival platforms. Before Huawei collapsed, it was hoped that Huawei could become the next major global supplier of Android smartphones, but Now that they’re out of the game, Samsung is once again the biggest global smartphone brand outside of China and that’s very valuable to Google.” he said.
However, while Samsung is dominating in the global and North American arena, it is facing obstacles in some other markets. Chinese brands in recent years – including Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo – have toppled Samsung in key regions, including China, India and even Europe. As a result, Samsung’s dominance as the world’s largest smartphone maker is under threat.
But Rahman notes that even if other Android carriers may ship more devices than Samsung in certain markets or in certain quarters, “Samsung remains the most important partner as it is the largest supplier of Android devices in North America, where Google often tests its new services first.”
Neil Shah, vice president of research at Counterpoint Research, says that the growing number of Chinese brands is a key factor in why Samsung itself needs to have a close partnership with Google.
“Samsung has increased its strategic partnership with Google on multiple fronts, which has helped it maintain its leadership position, delivering faster software, security updates, enhanced messaging, and optimized communication. user interface and deeper Google integration,” he said.
Shah adds that many times Google makes its latest Android codebase available to other OEMs,”but the level of customization that other OEMs use plus the versions in and out of China, makes it hard for them to match Samsung.”
Will Samsung’s close partnership with Google adversely affect other brands?
Ubrani noted that the close relationship between Google and Samsung in the long run is potentially dangerous for Google “isolate other partners, or worse, have partners become competitors”.
Even so, Anshel Sag, senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said that a close partnership doesn’t necessarily mean providing Samsung with exclusive features, but rather using the brand as a brand. platform for Google to test features on a larger scale, before rolling out globally to all companies.
He said: “It is much easier to work with a single OEM to test a feature before testing and to support dozens of OEMs at the same time.”
Finally, partnering with Samsung doesn’t necessarily have a negative impact on sales of other Android brands
Ubrani says that while Samsung is often preferred with Google’s software, most companies are not far behind and “sometimes they choose not to adopt the latest Google software”. When some features first launch, there will be a lot of bugs and not a good user experience.
He said: “It seems Samsung is willing to take that risk, and maybe its customers are more interested in new Google features that aren’t 100% complete, rather than waiting for them to be at another OEM.”
Reference: AndroidCentral
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