Samsung heir visits Japan to discuss cooperation in 5G

Samsung heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, recently met officials from Japan’s leading mobile carriers to discuss possible collaboration on 5G technology. Lee visited Tokyo for three days between May 15 to 17 and met with the senior executives of NTT Docomo and KDDI, the top two telecommunications companies in the country.

Japan is preparing to launch 5G mobile services ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Samsung, which is an official sponsor of the next year’s mega sporting event, recently launched an Olympic Game Edition of the Galaxy S10+ in Japan.

Strengthening market hold in Japan

According to industry tracker Canalys, Samsung held a market share of 6.8% in the fourth quarter of 2018 in Japan. The figure marks a slight improvement as compared to the previous quarters. Samsung is now betting on 5G technology as a means to further expand its foothold in the Japanese market. In October last year, the company teamed up with Japanese electronics firm NEC to work together to expand their next generation business portfolio, including 5G.

It may not just be a coincidence that the heir apparent has made a personal trip to meet potential customers for Samsung’s network solutions as Huawei faces mounting pressure from the US government which has also been calling on its allies to shun the Chinese conglomerate’s telecommunications equipment. Samsung will certainly be looking to gain from Huawei’s loss.

Lee, the Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, also visited the Galaxy Harajuku in Tokyo during his three-day visit last week. The eight-story store is Samsung’s largest Galaxy showcase store yet. It was opened in March to mark 500 days to go until the 2020 Olympics. It features more than 1,000 Galaxy smartphones that illuminate the front facade.