It seems like the explanation is pretty simple - Samsung's competitors are delivering an extremely similar product for half the price. As these Chinese OEMs expand into other markets, Samsung is going to see this same trend happen worldwide. Apple takes the high-end, image-conscious market segment, and huawei and xaomi take the low end, and there isn't a whole lot of room for a high-price low-prestige product.

Okay, good to know it's just normal market dynamics.

Thanks.

China and South Korea are actually in their best relationship because of Japan's Abe government.

I don't like the conspiracy theory behind it. Apparently, China and US are not getting along recently on a list of issues, like Russia and Internet dispute, while at the same time, Apple has reached its peak in terms of popularity in this market. Galaxy S5/Note 4 is a universal flop for Samsung in various of markets, in China, it faces even stronger competition from local players like Xiaomi and Huawei, whose products are cheaper and comparable in feature. Just that simple.

China and South Korea are actually in their best relationship because of Japan's Abe government => this statement is getting to be less true. Recently Xi Jinping met with Abe which came as a direct hit on the apologize-or-no-meeting hard line of the South Korean government. South Korea is budging to mend the diplomatic fences with Japan, lean back to the United States, and steps back from China a bit. The general perception here is that South Korea is not ready to go all-in for China.