Japan’s SoftBank starts selling Galaxy S6 in Japan

SoftBank, Japan’s No. 3 telecom service provider, will start selling Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in Japan next week. It is the first time in four years and six months that SoftBank is selling Samsung’s smartphones, and the first time to sell Galaxy S phones. In 2007, the firm had obtained exclusive sales rights for Apple’s iPhone in Japan, and has since sold just iPhones among foreign smartphone brands.

With NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, Japan’s top two telecom operators, selling both iPhone and Galaxy phones, Softbank has opted to partner with Samsung to prevent losing customers to rival telecom operators. Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge were launched in Japan last month via NTT DoCoMo and KDDI.

According to global market research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple topped Japan’s smartphone market with a whopping 40.8 percent share. Samsung ranked fifth with 5.6 percent, followed by Sony (18.1 percent), Sharp (12.8 percent) and Fujitsu (8.8 percent).

“It seems that the two companies have come to share interests. Samsung wants to fight back in Japan with Galaxy S6, while SoftBank hopes to attract new customers with competitive smartphones,” said an electronics business source in Korea.