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| Samsung is removing paid content from its store |
Samsung has confirmed in a notice to users in affected markets that Samsung is working in several countries / regions to remove paid content from the Galaxy Store within the next month.
The free content is still available for download. As of January 26, paid apps will no longer be available, including in-app purchases and paid Galaxy themes.
The preliminary list of markets affected by the new changes in policy includes Albania, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Iceland, Moldova, Pakistan and Uruguay.
It is not yet known that Samsung is planning to expand this strategy to other countries around the world.
No specific explanation has been given as to why paid content from Galaxy Stores has been blocked in these regions.
To avoid violating local laws, this may have to do with how each country handles online payments rather than Samsung's own policies.
Even after January 26th, Galaxy Store users in countries that purchased apps will still be able to download purchased apps by visiting the My Apps section of the Store.
It is clear for app developers to decide whether to allow the removal of paid apps from the Galaxy Store in these markets or offer a completely free alternative, which is unlikely.
According to reports, many mobile device manufacturers have their own app stores where users can download apps, wallpapers, themes, and other content.
Additionally, market research firm Gartner has published a report on the smartphone market. In the third quarter of this year, global smart phone sales reached 366 million units, down 5-7% over the same period last year.
Samsung continues to maintain its leadership position by selling 80.82 million units with a market share of 22%.
Samsung and Xiaomi sales volume increased 2.2% and 34.9%, respectively. Xiaomi sold 44.41 million smartphones, with a 12.1% market share.
Huawei ranks second with 51.83 million smartphones sold and 14.4% market share.