Samsung Electronics Co. has opened “Galaxy Studio” product experience center in central Tokyo prior to releasing its latest flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 series in Japan in a bid to revive its reputation in the neighboring country where it has a pitiful presence.

The Korean electronics giant said Sunday that it opened the Galaxy Studio in downtown Tokyo for the public to have hands-on experience of its latest products ranging from its new Galaxy S8 series smartphones to Gear VR (virtual reality) headset.

While the company dominated 20.5 percent of the global smartphone market last year, its market share in Japan had remained at mere 3.8 percent to barely make the top 5 list in the first quarter, according to market research company Strategic Analytics (SA). Its presence in Japanese smartphone market has been a continuous fall over the past years five to mark 3.4 percent last year, shrinking largely from 14.8 percent in 2012. It had secured only 10.7 percent share in 2013, 5.6 percent in 2014, and 4.3 percent in 2015.

Samsung Electronics’ slump in the Japanese smartphone market started mainly in 2012 when Japan’s top telecom service operator NTT Docomo that carried Samsung Galaxy smartphones only added Apple’s iPhone on its shelves. Since then, iPhone has dominated the Japanese smartphone market, taking 51.3 percent share in the January-March period this year, followed by Sony with 13.5 percent share, Fujitsu with 5.9 percent, and Sharp with 4.1 percent.

With an aim to regain its strength in Japan, the company is focusing its efforts on its Galaxy S8 series by adding features specifically tailored for Japanese users. The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus smartphone offer Japan’s popular mobile TV service, a Japanese keyboard app designed with local software developer Omron, and Japan’s widely-used mobile payment service FeliCa.

The Galaxy S8 series smartphones will hit the Japanese market from early June through NTT Docomo and KDDI.

By Oh Chan-jong

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