Samsung’s mobile division has been under a fair bit of scrutiny recently. With sales figures for the company’s latest flagship smartphone failing to live up to expectations, and anticipation that Samsung is set to post its worst quarterly earnings report in the last two years, some are wondering if Samsung’s better days are in the past.

There are talks of a staff reshuffle in the IT & Mobile Communications Division, and CEO Shin Jong-gyun is under pressure to make changes to turn around Samsung’s recent misfortunes. Furthermore, Senior Samsung executives have been dodging local media questions about the issue, and will apparently be cutting their summer vacations short this year, in order to quickly respond to any urgent company issues. Internally, it seems that Samsung has its head down in search of a solution.

“Samsung Electronics is trying hard to recover after its recent quarterly earnings struggle. Top Samsung executives aren’t in a panic,” – anonymous Samsung official

But all is not lost, Samsung still has another ace to play this year – the Galaxy Note 4.

According to industry insiders, Samsung is pinning a lot of its hopes on the upcoming Galaxy Note 4, and will be going all out to impress. Take these rumors with a dose of scepticism, but apparently Samsung is planning to include a 16 megapixel OIS camera module, metal casing, and will also supposedly offer flexible and non-flexible display options. There is also the snapping looking Exynos 5433 SoC inside too.

Even if these specs don’t turn out to be true, it is worth remembering that the iPhone 6 is rumored to be aiming for a larger display size this time around. Samsung is no doubt keen to keep its nose out in front with the Note series, so we can expect another device packed with bleeding edge hardware.

“Samsung will still be the world’s top home appliance manufacturer next year. The outlook isn’t that bad,” – Eom Young-hoon, executive vice president of sales

Samsung certainly isn’t facing the same financial problems as its rival HTC, but it seems that Samsung’s smartphone business is the latest casualty of the increasingly price competitive nature of the today’s mobile market.

Of course, Samsung is a much larger company that just its mobile division. Its semiconductor and home appliance divisions are expected to show further growth this year, and should go someway to offset the poorer performance of the mobile division. Samsung seems confident that it can sustain its market position, due to its advantages in hardware, cost competiveness, and its worldwide distribution channels.

With managers already handing back part of their bonuses, it is clear that, internally, Samsung has acknowledged that it needs to do more to hold on to its leading market position. What do you think Samsung should do in order to regain its former momentum? Will the Note 4 be enough?