Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has some challenges, and opportunities ahead: Here’s why

But there are other challenges too. For one, Samsung has to figure out how to sell expensive phones at a mass scale. Apple has been able to push up the average selling price of its phones to $700. So even if it sells less, it makes more or at least an equal amount of revenue than before. And the $1000 Apple iPhone X has really helped its cause.

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Secondly, even if it does not push the price or margins, it needs to be able to offer a compelling reason for people to pick up the Note 9. In India, for instance, both Apple and Samsung have been struggling from the OnePlus challenge. This startup has been able to offer a good premium experience at almost half the price of an iPhone and now leads the top-end segment.

Samsung has for years been catering to a specific user base with its Note series and a big chunk of those are also repeat customers.

So, the question will be what can it offer that a OnePlus phone can’t in terms of experience and performance. Also, the other Chinese manufacturers, who have till now been playing in the budget game, have started pushing the price points of their offerings northwards. Oppo, Vivo, and Huawei all have phones now in the premium segment, some of them with clear USPs.

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To Samsung’s credit is the fact that the Note series is still very unique. Though a lot of other brands now try to play on the Note keyword, none have the biggest factor that makes the Samsung Note series unique: its stylus. Cashing in on this, it is expected that even if the phone does not have a lot of improvements, an S Pen stylus will sure come with new features.

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Samsung has for years been catering to a specific user base with its Note series and a big chunk of those are also repeat customers. Even with the Note 9, this is the guarantee the Samsung has. Even its S series does not have this loyal user base. However, with the Note 9, it will have to offer enough to keep these users base interested. As for wooing a new user base, that is a tough challenge for any smartphone manufacturer in 2018.

Disclaimer: The author is in New York on the invite of Samsung India.