Samsung Galaxy S5 in gold
Samsung has reportedly replaced its head of mobile design amidst continued criticism of the look and feel of devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S5.
According to a recent Reuters report, Chang Dong-hoon offered to resign last week. He will be replaced by vice president for mobile design Lee Min-hyouk.
Chang will continue to oversee Samsung’s overall design strategy, but tellingly this move sees the return to the smartphone design hot seat of the man who helped boost Samsung’s mobile division to success with the original Galaxy series.
Samsung did not comment on the reasons behind this shift in personnel, but widespread criticism of the Samsung Galaxy S5’s plastic design is the likeliest candidate. Indeed, the company’s cheap-looking mobile devices have been a source of criticism for several years now, even as sales have been strong and general feedback has been positive.
In our own (largely positive) review of the Samsung Galaxy S5, one of the few major criticisms we had was for the way the high-end smartphone looked.
This included condemnation of Samsung’s use of imitation material effects as "not plastic that's happy to look like what it is."
We also concluded that the look of the Galaxy S5 was "not a wholesale improvement" over the Samsung Galaxy S4, which itself was hardly a looker.
Meanwhile, we noted that "the phone is nowhere near as good-looking as the HTC One M8," the Samsung Galaxy S5’s closest Android rival. This followed last year’s HTC One outstripping the Galaxy S4 for critical plaudits, if not sales.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy S5 vs HTC One M8