Galaxy S7's popularity is forcing Russian carriers to stop boycott of Samsung phones

There is ample evidence to substantiate the claim that the Galaxy S7 has been a huge hit for Samsung. The stellar performance of its flagships enabled the company to bring in its best quarterly operating profit in two years. Demand for the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge is so high in Russia that carriers in the country are ending their boycott of Samsung phones because they don't want to miss out on the revenues they can generate by selling the Galaxy S7 series.

Russia's carriers effectively boycotted Samsung phones when the country's largest mobile carrier – Mobile TeleSystems PJSC – started undercutting all of them on price by taking advantage of the volume discounts that Samsung provides to channel partners. VimpelCom operates more than 3,000 stores in Russia and it stopped buying handsets from Samsung in protest. Major retailer MegaFon did the same. Mobile TeleSystems effectively had a monopoly on Samsung smartphones and it reaped the benefits as Samsung handsets drove a 63 percent increase in the carrier’s total smartphone shipments in the first half of this year.

Chalk this up as a win for Samsung because VimpelCom has confirmed that it's resuming sales of Samsung phones in the country as it seeks to cash in on the Galaxy S7 demand. MegaFon is discussing cooperation with Samsung and restarting sales of its handsets in the near future.

Adnan Farooqui - Executive Editor

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First Samsung device: SGH-E900

Adnan Farooqui is a long-term writer at SamMobile. Based in Pakistan, his interests include technology, finance, Swiss watches and Formula 1. His tendency to write long posts betrays his inclination to being a man of few words.

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