Samsung replaces mobile design chief amid Galaxy S5 criticism

Himanshu Arora

Posts: 902   +7

Samsung's head of mobile design Chang Dong-hoon has stepped down from his post amid criticism of the company's latest flagship, the Galaxy S5, which debuted globally last month, according to a report by Reuters.

He will now be the head of design strategy at the company's corporate design center, and will be replaced by vice president for mobile design Lee Min-hyouk.

"The realignment will enable Chang to focus more on his role as head of the Design Strategy Team, the company's corporate design center which is responsible for long-term design strategy across all of Samsung's businesses, including Mobile Communications", Samsung said in a statement.

42-year-old Lee began his career with Samsung designing cars for a joint venture between the company and Renault in the 1990s. He was heavily involved in designing the Galaxy series, picking up the nickname 'Midas' in the process.

The Galaxy series was a huge success, so much so, it unseated Apple's iPhone as king of the global smartphone market. According to market research firm IDC, a total of 284.8 million smartphones were shipped in the last quarter, up over 30.2 percent year-on-year. While Samsung's market share stood at 30.2 percent, Apple's share was 15.5 percent. The two have been involved in patent litigation across courtrooms and countries worldwide.

The Galaxy S5's failure to take the smartphone market by storm may have prompted the company to take the decision. The device received a lukewarm response from customers, who have criticized the use of a cheap-looking plastic case and lack of eye-popping hardware innovations.

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If the Galaxy S6 has stock Android and a metal body, count me in. The problem IMO with their phones is the plastic design and the bloated software (Android).
 
I agree that S5 looks worse than S4 and that band aid back is really making my eyes burn.
 
I don't understand the hate towards the S5.
It's easily the most comfortable phone I've ever used, and the back that has copped a lot of negativity is lovely to hold in the hand.

I admit, there's nothing revolutionary about the S5, but if you look at it as an incremental update - it's fantastic.

For those of you suggesting the version of Android is bloated.. you should know better, either root it or put on your own overlay (Nova, etc).
 
How many times has anyone looked at the BACK of a cell phone and said "Wow that design is really ugly"...never. Everyone is complaining about how the 5S is metal and the S5 is plastic...yet over 75% of people have a case on their phone at all times so you can't even SEE it.
 
I don't understand the hate towards the S5.
It's easily the most comfortable phone I've ever used, and the back that has copped a lot of negativity is lovely to hold in the hand.

I admit, there's nothing revolutionary about the S5, but if you look at it as an incremental update - it's fantastic.

For those of you suggesting the version of Android is bloated.. you should know better, either root it or put on your own overlay (Nova, etc).
There's nothing to understand really, it's all about opinions and taste. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. If it ain't broke don't break it. Having said that, I would't be interested in it, I'm more interested in the yet to be released mini version. Far better bang for the buck as far as I'm concerned.
 
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If the Galaxy S6 has stock Android and a metal body, count me in. The problem IMO with their phones is the plastic design and the bloated software (Android).
And then you take the beautifully brushed metal and titanium body then bung it a plastic case bought from a flea market or street vendor. After that you install rubbish like FB & Twitter which is 99% adware, bloatware and crapware to spice up the pure but spartan Android experience.
I don't know if that's you but it sure sounds like me.:D
 
@James
Rooting or 'tinkering' with something right out of the box may not be something everyone want to do. In fact, few people would ever root their phones. So, IF something is not clicking right out of the box as it should, then it deserves every bit of criticism it receives.

Compared to mess which TW is, HTC's sense seems far more mature and responsive incarnation of android. From my personal experience, I'd prefer HTC M8 over S5 any day of the year (ie if I want an android phone), camera isn't an issue IMO, because there is no android phone with 'good' camera, so take that out of equation, and there is absolutely no case left for S5 (which has just a decent camera at best, and it struggles with production of 'natural' colors at times).
 
It is clever PR when Apple and Samsung are always having a big fight about their products. It hasn’t done either of them any harm, and it makes people think that they are the two top dogs.
 
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