Chang Dong-hoon, head of the mobile design team at Samsung Electronics offered to resign last week and has since been replaced according to a report published by Reuters. Lee Min-hyouk, the VP for Mobile Design at Samsung will be replacing Chang. Lee is well known for being the youngest senior executive at Samsung.
Lee played a major role in the design of the Galaxy series of devices which are largely responsible for the massive sales demand of Samsung handsets. That said, Samsung has been fighting patent litigation the world over because of similarities drawn between the Galaxy range of devices and Apple’s iPhone. Apple claims that Samsung has copied the iPhone design language.
Consumers too have shown less than stellar interest in the new flagship, the Galaxy S5. Continued use of the same design and lack of any substantial hardware innovation means are key factors. The Galaxy S5 has also been universally panned for the quality of materials used with ‘band aid’ like design being a common term used to describe the faux leather back. It remains to be seen if Lee, who goes by the moniker ‘Midas’, can change around Samsung’s design related woes.