The Nokia Lumia 520 remains the best-selling Windows mobile phone ever, and the Motorola Moto G is now by far the best-selling phone Motorola has produced. These products were only as successful as they are because Samsung left this particular field wide open.
After all the phones it has designed, the hundreds and hundreds of millions spent and billions earned, why can't Samsung give us anything remotely similar?
It has the supply chains in place, and with a flick of a proverbial switch could have the economies of scale to match these budget giants, but in 2015 style.
Is it scared? Does it know that for £150 it could make a 4G phone so good that we'd all give up our dreams of owning a fabled Samsung Galaxy S6?
We can imagine Samsung's execs' discomfort at such an idea. The truth is the market is naturally segmented because it relies so heavily on carrier subsidy (in the US/UK at least).
On your A-game
In 2015 Samsung is finally, finally going to re-energise its more affordable phones with the A-series. But it looks as though it'll be a case of too little, too late.
Take the Galaxy A3, for example. It costs around £240 SIM-free (available on contract from February) and yet offers lower display resolution than the £100-odd Moto G.
Yes it has metal sides and is skinny, but when you strip out all the extraneous bits you'll get used to in two and a half days, it's no better than some phones that cost half the price. Worse than some even.
Will it sell well regardless? When Samsung gets around to releasing it properly in February, then probably. But we wish Samsung would spend just five minutes considering its customers over its shareholders. Because we've been waiting for a good budget Samsung phone for an awful long time.
We're still waiting.
