Android company CEO: Like Nokia, Samsung will be “Slaughtered” in the Next 5 Years

What would Nokia and Samsung have in common some 5 years from now aside from manufacturing mobile phones?

Well, according to an Android company Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster, Samsung will be “slaughtered” and become a “has-been” in the mobile phone industry – just like what happened to Nokia.

Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Nokia was the biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. BlackBerry was the phone of choice for most executives and government officials but Nokia was for everyone.

The scene changed with the arrival of other competitors who were able to catch the market’s fancy. Today, as Business Insider puts it, “The mobile industry is essentially a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung.”

However, this scene is going to change in the next 5 years. In fact, the market is slowly shifting to cheaper smartphones which actually offer features at par with high-end, more expensive brands like Apple and Samsung.

McMaster’s prediction is not far from becoming a reality unless Samsung quickly finds an alternative to quell the market shift.

This would prove to be quite a challenge, especially after the arrival of cheaper but excellent brands like Xiaomi and OnePlus, both from China. McMaster thinks Xiaomi is going to land the third spot in the global market real soon. There’s also the appearance of local brands in local markets. For example, he mentioned Cherry Mobile in the Philippines and Blu Products in Latin America.

Of course, Samsung continues to create new phones with cutting edge technology and the latest features yet the cheaper brands are not too far behind. With the cheaper brands offering phones at half the price yet with similar features to the high-end brands, consumers would be tempted to choose the ones that would be easier on their wallet.

What makes McMaster think Samsung is going down? You have to remember that he is the CEO of Android company Cyanogen. Right now, the average phone user does not know much about this fledgling company but McMaster is pushing for a change real soon.

Cyanogen creates a better version of the Android, making it “more open”; thus, users can add new themes and features to their Android phones without compromising performance.

The company also partnered with Qualcomm, bringing Cyanogen’s turnkey solution along with the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphone processors.

With this new partnership, Cyanogen is essentially going to be in every new smartphone manufactured. Not only is this going to be good news for the company but also for end-users who will benefit from cheaper smartphones from companies who don’t have to hire software developers to create awesome products.

With the rise of these cheaper smartphones, Samsung and Apple won’t be holding the top spots in the market, McMaster predicts. However, since Apple has its separate operating system, it won’t be as greatly affected as Samsung which runs on Android much like most of the cheaper brands rising in the market today.

So, is it going to be RIP Samsung in 5 years? Only time will really tell…