Samsung in uphill battle for mobile market share

Seoul

FOR four years, Samsung Electronics has basked in the success of its Galaxy smartphones, making billions of dollars competing with Apple Inc in the premium mobile market.

The coming years are set to be more sombre for the South Korean tech giant, as it is forced to slash prices and accept lower margins at its mobile division in order to see off competition from rivals including China's Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi Inc in the mid-to-low end of the market.

Behind Samsung's reality check is the fact it is stuck with the same Android operating system used by its low-cost competitors, who are producing incre…