Samsung swaps mobile tech chiefs in the face of struggles

For the first time in 6 years, the consumer electronics giant has made a change in this critical position.

While Samsung has not at all seen a stoppage in its mobile tech sales, and while it continues to be one of the top smartphone manufacturers worldwide, the company has been facing some sizeable pressures on its business, particularly from competition such as Huawei and Xiaomi.

As a result, the company has changed its mobile communications president as it develops a new strategy.

This is the first time in six years that the company has changed the head of its mobile tech. This means that JK Shin, a 59 year old who has been holding that position for over half a decade, will be on his way out. He is being replaced by Dongjin Koh, who is 54 and was previously the head of mobile Research and Development for the company. He was the one at the wheel when Samsung developed Tizen, its own mobile operating system. He was also leading the way with the Samsung Pay mobile payments platform for which the company has high hopes.

This change in mobile tech leadership doesn’t mean that Shin will be stepping completely out of the company.

Instead, this is being considered as a shuffle within the company instead of one leader stepping up while another leaves altogether. Shin is exceptionally experienced as an executive within this market. He is behind the rise of Samsung’s smartphone business and at the same time, he is also the one who was in command as the more recent challenges fell into place.

For Shin, this will mean that he will be stepping out of the day-to-day mobile technology operations of the company. He will be focusing his attention on tasks of a more long-term planning nature. His goal will be to come up with a strategy that will allow the company to rebuild and rejuvenate its mobile business, which has been struggling to see the type of growth that it has experienced in the past.

It is also important to point out that mobile tech leadership wasn’t Shin’s only role in the company. He was, and remains, the co-CEO of Samsung Electronics. Clearly, this move is not being made to remove him from the company, but rather to freshen its perspective.