Smartphones in color evolution

By Yoon Ja-young

Joe Moon, an office worker in Seoul, bought a white Galaxy Note last month. It is the first white phone he has ever bought. “I thought the color would be a better fit with white screen on the Web. It also looked lighter and more technologically advanced to me.”

He used to hesitate over the idea that white phones might get dirty more easily, but not this time. “The technology has advanced. You also have the case. I am not concerned about it.”

More consumers like Moon are turning to white smartphones in the market previously dominated by black devices. Handset manufacturers are launching not only white phones but also of a variety of colors to attract a wider range of consumers.

Samsung Electronics has launched black, white, and pink models for the Galaxy S, Galaxy S2 and Galaxy M. “Cell phones have a trend. At first, most of our phones were metallic silver, and we received wild acclaim in the global market in the mid 2000s when we launched them in blue-black.

A few years later, feature phones came in diverse candy colors,” a Samsung spokeswoman said.

Color above technology

When handsets start coming in diverse colors, it means that manufacturers have in some ways achieved most of the meaningful technological advancement. “Manufacturers compete in terms of technology and function in the initial stage of the market. Then comes color as a differentiating factor,” a spokeswoman for LG Electronics said.

The colorful smartphones also mean that they have entered the mass market. Handsets were first made in black to represent them being “cutting-edge.” As they become goods for the masses, they start coming in diverse colors, as a kind of fashion item. “At first, only tech savvy people bought the expensive devices. As the consumer base expands to younger people and females, they start to come in diverse colors,” said the Samsung spokeswoman.

Strategy for more profit

Handsets need painting, and making them wear a uniform color isn’t as simple as one imagines. It is especially complicated for non-black colors. However, diverse colors pull up profits. “Sometimes we launch two or three colors together from the beginning, but we often launch a black model first and white after a few months when sales growth slows down. When white cools down then comes pink. In the case of long running models, a new color boosts sales,” the Samsung spokeswoman said. The white Galaxy S2, for instance, released a few months after release of the black one, received wild acclaim, selling twice as many as the original in the first month it was launched.