S4 goes head-to-head with iPhone 5

Journalists line up to attend Samsung Electronics’ official launch of its new Galaxy smartphone — the Galaxy S4 — at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Friday morning (KST). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

New handset becomes slimmer, faster, lighter

By Kim Yoo-chul

Samsung Electronics is seeking to make a major comeback in the United States, home turf of its biggest rival with the Galaxy S4, phone, the latest in its flagship Galaxy S lineup,.

Samsung unveiled the much-awaited handset in New York, Friday, as it moves to solidify its dominance in the smartphone market.

In its Mobile Unpacked event at the Radio City Music Hall, the company’s mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun said the Galaxy S4 “is a life companion for a simpler life,” stressing that the fourth-generation phone is ``slimmer yet stronger’’ than its predecessor, the Galaxy SIII.

Attention is now being shifted to whether Apple will seek a possible peace treaty with Samsung in their legal battles as the S4 is likely to tip the balance toward the Korean company, said officials and analysts.

``Samsung has no doubt that the new smartphone will help us significantly continue our ongoing success in the Galaxy line of devices,” the executive regarded as one of the right-hand men of Chairman Lee Kun-hee, said during the event.

While the smartphone does not have all the futuristic features that had been the subject of rumors, the flagship phone is packed with striking applications such as Smart Pause, Smart Scroll and Air View.

In terms of specifications, the new Galaxy is the most-advanced.

It is just 7.9 millimeters thick and weighs 130 grams, compared to the S3, which is 8.6 millimeters thick and weighs 133 grams. The screen has been expanded to 5 inches as earlier reported by The Korea Times in September last year compared to the S3’s 4.8-inch display.

Theoretically, the S4 is twice is faster than the S3 as the new Galaxy is powered by the in-house octa-core processor.

``The S4 will be available via 327 mobile carriers in 155 countries by the end of April,” the mobile chief said.

The Korean company strategically picked New York City as the launch venue for the S4 as it is nicknamed the ``Big Apple.’’

According to Samsung officials, the company is fully set to take on Apple for supremacy in the smartphone market.

Apple still tops Samsung in terms of smartphone sales in the United States, while Samsung is the global leader as of last week.

``Apple created the smartphone market. But Samsung has so far been successfully catching up. The time is ripe to beat the iPhone maker on the latter’s home turf,’’ said a Samsung official by telephone.

The official, who was part of the development team for the S4, said the phone will pave the way for the company to achieve a new dream that its Anycall-branded feature phones didn’t.

``We are writing new history. Though Samsung was late coming to smartphones, consumers are shifting toward our phones with evolutionary features not innovative features, we are highly positive to further improve our business,” the official said.

Samsung plans to sell 100 million Galaxy S4s in one year, which while seemingly ambitious, is achievable considering the rising consumer appetite for pricing-competitive smartphones.

The bullish business plan is expected to squeeze Apple to debut its next iPhone earlier than scheduled. Apple was sticking to its usual mantra of one product a year.

But the California-based outfit is being pressured to make imminent changes, said market analysts.

Apple only remained as market leader in the United States, with ComScore, which tracks phone ownership, calculating that there were 49 million iPhones in use, there, as of January 2013 compared with 27.7 million Samsung phones.

``While the market is inclining to Samsung, the iPhone maker probably wants to end its patent litigation with its biggest smartphone rival and I think this is the scenario that Samsung eagerly wants,’’ said a fund manager from a U.S.-based investment bank in Seoul by telephone, adding the bank advised its clients to buy Samsung stock.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) recently delayed its final ruling on Apple’s claim that Samsung willfully infringed on some of its patents.

U.S. Federal Judge Lucy Koh reduced Samsung’s damages payment to Apple by nearly half and ordered a new trial to decide how much the former should pay for infringements in 14 handsets and tablets.