The flagship Samsung Galaxy S series has always been the company’s pride and joy ever since it was released in 2010. This is the platform for the tech giant to unveil its latest and greatest innovations, with its stellar reputation carrying the rest of the company’s smartphone lineup to success. Even when the Note lineup and Z foldables emerged as fellow premium devices from the company, it’s clear that there’s always extra love for the S series. With 2023’s Galaxy Unpacked coming up quite soon, there are reports that the Samsung Galaxy S22 sales numbers aren’t where the brand had hoped they’d be.

The numbers say it all. Apple was able to increase its Average Sale Price (ASP) by 7% on its devices, while Samsung was only able to raise theirs by 2%. This could be attributed to the fact that the brand has a low-price and midrange segment that is more price-sensitive and could look to Android value competitors if the retail price was too high. On the other hand, folks looking to buy iPhones wouldn’t mind an increase as long as it’s justified through new features like the Dynamic Island and so. Actually, even if the device were less revolutionary, a lot would still hop onto the next big Apple device.

Brand recognition could play a part here. The highest sales numbers for Samsung came from their entry-level devices. Whether it’s because of a difference in popularity or simply because they’re cheaper is a discussion for another day, but international acclaim for the company doesn’t stem from the flagships anymore. People aren’t looking for new gimmicks or the cutting-edge to trickle down, but just for midrange devices to deliver solid day-to-day performance.

With all this said, the Samsung Galaxy S22 has fallen short of its sales target of 30 million devices. Some attribute splitting sales numbers with the Z devices, while others mention that the rising price of flagships in general has enticed buyers to go for upper mid-range devices instead; or come to other brands with cheaper flagship offerings.

The sales numbers aren’t expected to drastically change as the Galaxy S23 is coming in. On the contrary though, the arrival of the next-gen could strike the price of the S22 down enough for people to buy it. Additionally, if the S23 were to be underwhelming in any sense of the word, then a wave of S22 buyers could also be arriving. After all, many S10/20/21 users were just waiting to see if the upcoming device is a worthwhile investment.

It goes without saying that all will be revealed in the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event. Whether or not the S22 will see another rapid surge in sales is yet to be discovered.