Samsung Appoints New Smartphones Chief

Samsung has replaced the head of tis struggling smartphone business as part of a major corporate shake-up.

JK Shin, who has overseen Samsung’s daily mobile operations over the past few years, is being replaced by Dong Jin Koh as president of the company’s mobile communications business.

Shin, who is also a co-CEO at Samsung, will remain head of the overall mobile division for Samsung Electronics and focus on long-term strategy and developing new growth businesses, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In addition to its new smartphone head, Samsung is also moving BK Yoon, the current head of its TV and appliances division, to take on a more long-term strategic role.

All change

Koh was previously head of Samsung’s mobile research and development office and mobile communications business, where among other projects, he oversaw Samsung’s Tizen OS and Samsung Pay.

He will now be tasked with continuing to grow Samsung’s share of the mobile device market, where although it remains the world’s leading manufacturer, its dominance is being increasingly challenged by smaller rivals, especially from China, as well as its old enemy Apple.

Reports last month speculated that Samsung would be accelerating the development of its next flagship smartphone, most probably the Galaxy S7, in order to combat the huge success seen in Apple’s latest iPhone launch.

The last Galaxy S devices, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, were released back at Mobile World Congress in March, with a larger-screen successor, the S6 Edge +, back in August.

Its most recent set of financial results in July, Samsung warned that its quarterly earnings were likely to miss analysts’ expectations because the Galaxy S6 smartphone failed to reignite the smartphone market.

This was followed by reports claiming that Samsung is reportedly planning to cut as much as 10 percent of staff at its South Korean headquarters, and would also be cutting back on general expenses by 50 percent next year in a pre-emptive move because of the ongoing slump in the smartphone market.

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