Flagship just too expensive
If you look at a graph of flagship phone prices over the past 10 years you will see a huge and uncharacteristic rise in the graph over the past few years. Previously it was a gradual increase then all of a sudden Apple launch that price into orbit, closely followed by Samsung.
They cannot seem to understand that if they brought flagship phone prices down to a reasonably level they would sell more phones and make more profit. At the moment nearly £1000 for a phone is absolutely ridiculous (for a pimped out S9). My S7 cost me £500 and I won't budge above that for a phone. The Huwei stuff always looks appealing until you dig into the details and find a deal breaker.
Offer me a phone Samsung that is better than my S7, can do more or has some new feature, BUT don't you dare charge more than £500. There is no way the cost of production is more than about £250 and you already have enough profit without copying Apple. Apple has a zombie horde of retarded people who will just pay anything, would let their kids go hungry, just to get their next overly priced phone. Samsung doesn't have that luxury.