Since its emergence as the premier smartphone player, I pay attention to how Samsung approaches a consumer market. In cameras, Samsung started in 2005 with an aliiance with Pentax for joint development of high end Digital SLRs dominated by Nikon and Canon. The strategy provided an entree for Samsung into the digital camera world. Since then, Samsung has done well but has not dominated in any digital camera category.
So lately Samsung is duplicating its smartphone strategy of being ahead of the curve in feature innovations and thus deciphering market directions. Samsung now tries to have a product with some of the newest device or camera features before its competition. For example, just look at the mirrorless ILC-Interchangeable Lens Cameras with APS-C sensors that Panasonic, Sony and Samsung have pioneered. These APS-C sensors average 65% bigger area than the 4/3 sensors that are used by many other mirrorless ILC cameras. This gives Samsung and other APS-C vendors a leg up in image quality especially if they use BSI-CMOS instead of ordinary CMOS sensors. Now watch what Samsung has done in the past half year in this camera category:
| Samsung Mirrorless APS-C ILC Cameras | ||
NX2000 debuts May 1 2013
|
NX1100 debuts April 11, 2013
|
NX300 debuts January 3, 2013
|
| APS-C Sensor, 20.3MPixels | APS-C Sensor, 20.3MPixels | APS-C hybrid Sensor, 20.3MPixels |
| weight 9.5 ounces | weight 8.5 ounces | weight 10.9 ounces |
| Optical stabiliz.,15pt autofocus | Optical stabiliz.,15pt autofocus | Optical stabiliz.,105 pt phase detector |
| 3.7″ TFT LCD fixed touchscreen 1.1MPixels | 3.0″ LCD fixed touchscreen 0.615MPixels | 3.3″ AMOLED tilting touchscreen 0.768MPixels |
| shutter 30-1/4000, bulb 4 mins., 8fps cont | shutter 30-1/4000, bulb 4 mins., 8fps cont | shutter 30-1/4000, bulb 4 mins., 8fps cont |
| video 1080p/30fps, 720p/30fps | video 1080p/30fps, 720p/30fps | video 1080p/60 or 30fps, 720p/30fps |
| No Flash but hot-shoe, no viewfinder | No Flash but hot-shoe, no viewfinder | No Flash but hot-shoe, no viewfinder |
| WiFi with NFC and Smart Camera UI | WiFi with Smart Camera UI | WiFi with Smart Camera UI |
| Price $649 with 20-50mm lens | Price $599 with 20-50mm lens | Price $749 with 20-50mm lens |
| See here for complete comparison table green highlight for distinguishing feature | ||
Samsung is clearly saturating all corners of a digital camera marketplace that it consider important – mirrorless ILC[interchangeable Lens Cameras] DSLR. Perhaps Samsung sees refuge from the compact camera market with the intense internal and smartphone competition and a step down from the even more fierce competition in the high end DSLR market. But what is most interesting is that Samsung will cutout cameras that don’t meet market expectations and shrink the number of offerings on the next camera refresh cycle. But by trying several leading features and prices, Samsung gets a more complete sounding of the market and its directions. No wonder Apple is playing catch-up in the smartphone market it pioneered – Samsung is more agile and tries more innovative ideas in its more frequent update cycles.