Samsung merges its smartphone and camera divisions

 

Samsung will stop at nothing to be number one, especially if that means merging two powerful divisions within its company to create one super division that could trump all its competitors--at least, that seems to be the idea.

According to Korea's ETNews, Samsung has reorganized its camera and smartphone divisions so that the two are essentially one and the same. Samsung Electronics explained to ETNews:

"We will transplant the brand, sales networks, software competency and manufacturing competitiveness of the Wireless Business Division into the Camera Business Division, and integrate the technical know-how of the two business divisions into competency for differentiating our smartphones."

By taking advantage of two very powerful arms of its business, Samsung will attempt to increase its marketshare in the camera market, while also capitalizing on the technology for its handsets. The two divisions will also work together to market products and analyze data to help map out the best possible sales outcomes.

The signs were there

We figure Samsung had this in mind for a while. Last year, it revealed the Samsung Galaxy Camera, a device that essentially looks like someone tacked an Android-powered Galaxy smartphone onto the back of a point-and-shoot with long-zoom capabilities. Samsung followed up in June with the Galaxy NX, an Android-powered DSLR with interchangeable lenses. 

It's likely you'll see Samsung make an even bigger marketing push for the camera contained inside its line of Galaxy phones. Already, Samsung touts its features, including twelve automatic shooting modes and additional apps that help edit and organize your photos. Some of the camera features are gimmicky, but Samsung's inclusion of them seems to have caught on with other Android manufacturers, like LG and HTC, who also include a hefty number of shooting modes with their devices.

For the most part, the Android platform doesn't really have the quintessential "camera phone" like iOS and Windows Phone do. With the latest news that Google released an update specifically to help refine the quality of photos taken the Nexus 5, it's clear that this is an area--at least in the Android world--that remains underdeveloped. What Samsung likely hopes to do is eclipse any other smartphone maker in the camera game, notably Apple and Nokia. Either that, or it speculates that there's a future of "smart" cameras coming in 2015 and it'll be darned if it's not the first.