According to NetEase Technology on July 1^st, as sales of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone fell short of investor expectations, Samsung Electronics Company lost $25.3 billion in market capitalization last month, more than the total value of competitor Sony Corporation. Samsung shares declined 12.7 percent last month, the most since May 2012.  

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Galaxy S4 was released April 26 with a 5-inch screen, a 13-megapixel camera and motion-detecting software. The company hopes the device will win customers from Apple. However, Galaxy S4 was found no big difference with its predecessor, so JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley lowered their sales estimates for the year. It caused Samsung to decline 9.7 percent in shares. Then, about 15 analysts lowered their sales expectation on Samsung for the two-quarter of 2013.

Manufacturers of high-end models are suffering as consumers hold off on buying expensive handsets that are not considered innovative. Besides, Apple Inc. fell 9.4 percent in the month after releasing the iPhone 5 while China's Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. sold smartphones costing about $100 (about an eighth the price of the S4 in South Korea).

"Consumers can't find better reasons to buy the S4 since it has no big difference with its predecessor," said Oh Sang Woo, an analyst at Leading Investment & Securities in Seoul. "Comparing with other mobile phone manufacturers, Chinese companies are becoming a bigger threat to Samsung."

On May 23rd, Samsung said it sold 10 million units of the S4 within a month of its release. However, two weeks later, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley lowered their sales estimates based on supply-chain checks. JPMorgan cut its profit estimate for Samsung by 9 percent while revising its sales estimate to 60 million units this year from 80 million. Morgan Stanley reduced its earnings estimate by 1.6 percent and lowered sales expectations to 61 million units from 71 million.