On Christmas Eve we reported that Apple's 5.5 inch iPhone 6 Plus and the 4.7 inch iPhone 6 in both 16 and 64GB models took 4 out of the top 5 smartphone spots in Taiwan for November. The stats also showed us that Samsung only had a single model on that list, the Galaxy Note 4. The stats clearly showed us that phablets took three out of the top five smartphones and, more importantly perhaps, is that Samsung's S5 failed to crack the top 10 and their all-new metal trimmed iPhone 5 copycat models known as the Galaxy Alpha, the Galaxy A3 and A5 all failed to crack the top 10. A new Korean report published late yesterday told us that Samsung's iPhone 5 clones will now drop out of the premium phone market as their goal of challenging the iPhone failed to materialize in any way, shape or form.

Two weeks ago a Korean press report noted that there was a notable controversy over the Samsung's Galaxy Alpha line up of smartphones being too close to the iPhone 5's metal framed design and that the Korean "netizens" were disappointed with that fact. We didn't report on that at the time because as a fact by itself it didn't warrant us writing a full report.

Now that controversy appears to have a meaningful conclusion. A new Korean report published late yesterday shows us that the market's rejection of Samsung's iPhone 5 clones have forced Samsung to rethink and repurpose their Alpha smartphone line-up going into 2015.

As you can see in our cover graphic, Samsung was aiming the Galaxy Alpha smartphone for the professional women's market. The graphic shows alongside a gold Galaxy Alpha smartphone, fine jewelry, high-end accessories and the whole nine-yards laid out in gold. The verbiage found in Samsung's marketing emphasized "style, slim and metal." Their second and current graphic found on their website states that the Samsung's Galaxy Alpha was "Designed to Make a Statement."





Yes, it most certainly did make a statement. It stated that any professional woman owning the Galaxy Alpha was actually buying into a design exuding imitation. A design that would say that professional woman couldn't afford the best like men. It was an insult to professional women everywhere.

The top ten smartphone stats from Taiwan this week clearly showed us that professional women rejected their marketing message. The new Korean report went on to state that Samsung will be stopping production of the "Galaxy Alpha" in January and repurposing the Galaxy A5 from a luxury high-end smartphone to that of a mid-to-low end smartphone in the domestic market. This is part of Samsung's enforcement of the "Terminal Distribution Structure Improvement Act," which was introduced recently in the light of their mobile division' crashing profits.

According to industry insiders noted in the Korean report, Samsung will bring the Galaxy A5 to the Korean market as early as mid-January. The report further noted that "As the Galaxy A5 is released, the Galaxy Alpha will be discontinued as soon as the inventory of the materials for the Galaxy Alpha are exhausted which they think could be sometime in February. Then production will be stopped.

The report further stated that the "The Galaxy Alpha released last September attracted public attention as it had a metal frame and it was only 6.7mm thick, but was not very popular."

Considering that it couldn't even crack the top ten smartphones in Taiwan, it was clear that the Galaxy Alpha had been rejected as an iPhone challenger after all its hype back in August and September. Now their once highly hyped high-end smartphone has been reduced to nothing more than a low to mid-market smartphone in the hopes that it could help them retain their Korean market position and fight-off Xiaomi in markets such as China.

Samsung's coveted dream of being able to challenge Apple for the high-end of the market has been destroyed. Their latest iPhone clone a disaster that crashed to earth with a thud. It was just another grand humiliating moment for Samsung in a succession of them throughout the year. This time it wasn't a U.S. Court finding Samsung to be a patent infringer and copycat, it was the opinion of the people's court, the real-world market that rejected their cloned designs. Samsung's Alpha smartphone was interpreted as being nothing more than a pig with lipstick and the public ignored it. More importantly, professional women around the world rejected it unanimously with a loud slap in Samsung's face. Ouch, what a way to end 2014.

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