Owners of an iPhone in the U.S. can pay Samsung $1 to receive their choice of a Galaxy S6 Edge+ or Galaxy Note 5 as a loan device for 30 days. The phone will come packaged with a free, activated SIM card, allowing anybody who takes advantage of the offer to begin using their Galaxy as their daily driver immediately.
The program is called Ultimate Test Drive. Samsung writes that you can try “one of latest Samsung phones for 30 days with no obligation.” The offer is only open to iPhone users and can be applied for by visiting SamsungPromotions.com on an iPhone.
Anybody who decides to pay up and buy a Samsung phone after trying out a loan device will receive “even more love”, according to Samsung, but there is no explanation of what that may be. Ultimate Test Drive has been widely interpreted as representing a last attempt by Samsung to draw some of its old followers back before Apple launches the iPhone 6S next month.
By offering its two newest premium devices for just $1 for 30 days, with an activated SIM card, Samsung is clearly hoping that being able to use and experience the device for an extended testing period will be enough to convince some people to return. It is obviously confident that its devices are capable of winning fans, seemingly thinking it’s just a matter of giving them enough time to show that.
Samsung has been seeing steady declines throughout the world as Apple continues to draw increasing number of fans to the iPhone 6. Although Samsung’s latest offerings are undoubtedly capable, with world-class performance and cameras, most consumers seem to have little interest in this wave of devices.
Samsung’s introduction of a much more premium-feeling metal and glass chassis with the Galaxy S6 has done little to slow the waves of previous customers who have been moving away. A report from market analysts Gartner yesterday found that Samsung’s smartphone market share fell to just 19.9% during the second quarter of 2015, down from 26.2% in the same quarter last year and 24.2% in Q1.
