Why are Samsung Devices with Mobile Model Name/Number ending in "U" not converting on E-commerce platform?

Question

Within Google Analytics I can see that for the last 30 days our website has not been converting for any Samsung Device that ends with a "U" (Which I believe is the US version of the phone) appears to have either a 0.00% Conversion Rate or a much-reduced conversion rate compared to the exact same model ending in another letter (Worldwide, Europe etc).

All are also on the same OS Version and Browser Version. The only difference I have found between the two datasets is that any ending in "U" has the GA dimension "Country" set as "(not set)". All others have countries set. the U devices appear to have around half the sessions the B devices have which would make sense given the demographic of the site if we assume "U" = US and "B" is "Anything else".

I can't find an emulated/real device I can test on that has the "U" version of the device, only "B" and whilst I can't rule out an actual display issue, there should be no difference between devices in any aspect of the display.

My only working theory is perhaps it is bots slipping through or there is some specific carrier using the "U" devices that is actively blocking our domain.

These are not real figures but are indicative of what is being seen.

Versions and Conversion Rates for U devices:

• SM-S908U - 2000 sessions - 0.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S22 Ultra)
• SM-S901U - 1800 sessions - 0.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S22 5G)
• SM-S918U - 1600 sessions - 0.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S23 Ultra)
• SM-G991U - 1400 sessions - 0.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S21 5G)
• SM-G998U - 1200 sessions - 0.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G)
• SM-S911U - 1000 sessions - 0.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G)

Versions and Conversion Rates for B devices:

• SM-S908B - 4000 sessions - 4.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S22 Ultra)
• SM-S901B - 5000 sessions - 3.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S22 5G)
• SM-S918B - 3000 sessions - 4.50% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S23 Ultra)
• SM-G991B - 4000 sessions - 3.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S21 5G)
• SM-G998B - 3000 sessions - 4.00% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G)
• SM-S911B - 2000 sessions - 2.50% Conversion Rate - (Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G)

Any help in understanding the problem would be much appreciated - however wacky and out of the box or seemingly obvious it may be!

Answer 1

You're correct that Samsung phones with model numbers ending in "U" are typically US variant devices. See the answer to What is the difference between U and U1? on Samsung's community forum:

The U means that the device is a US variant device. if it has a 1 after it then it was factory unlocked. A U device can also get unlocked, if you meet the carriers criteria (like fully paying off the device, and then requesting an unlock) I.E. if it has U1 it is a device that was never carrier branded or locked whereas a U device MIGHT be unlocked, but was produced with Carrier Branding by whichever carrier it was initially produced for.

As to the question of why your traffic from US variant devices has not been convert...unfortunately there's no way we can answer that definitively.

Sometimes you see (not set) values across various dimensions for a legitimate reason. View [GA4] What the value (not set) means in your reports. In your case, if Country is (not set) it means that Google cannot associate the IP address with a physical location. The primary way that Google gets location data is by cross-referencing numeric IPs with 3rd party databases of known IP addresses.

If you ask me, it stinks. If the medium is PPC or social, while click fraud has been rampant across all digital channels for years, I've seen a huge escalation across Google Ads over the past few. It's not always bots, many operations are human-run which makes it almost impossible for Google to combat.