Samsung Galaxy S5 sales down compared to S4

Sales of Samsung's Galaxy S5 have disappointed, with the handset shifting around 40 per cent fewer devices than had been initially expected for the first three months.

According to the Wall Street Journal the Samsung Galaxy S5, released back in April of this year, has sold 12 million units over that initial three month period, compared to 16 million Galaxy S4 units during the same time period.

Samsung previously reported a significant decline in profits for Q3, a drop of 74 per cent year-over-year. The company cited increasing competition in the smartphone market, which it expects to continue being a problem in the current 2014 fiscal quarter.

Things looked good for the Galaxy S5 originally thought of as a major rival to Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus when it was reported that 10 million units had shipped within the first 25 days, and 48 hours faster than the S4 had hit the target before it.

The handset was met with decidedly mixed reviews (read our verdict here), and was subsequently thought to have contributed to the resignation of design chief Chang Dong-Hoon. Further troubles hit when its fingerprint scanner was hacked within one week of its launch.

Reports also suggest there could be internal changes at Samsung, with President and co-CEO B.K. Yoon taking over from J.K. Shin as head of mobile.

Caroline Preece

Caroline has been writing about technology for more than a decade, switching between consumer smart home news and reviews and in-depth B2B industry coverage. In addition to her work for IT Pro and Cloud Pro, she has contributed to a number of titles including Expert Reviews, TechRadar, The Week and many more. She is currently the smart home editor across Future Publishing's homes titles.

You can get in touch with Caroline via email at caroline.preece@futurenet.com.