Samsung unveils latest smartphone series in Spain
SEOUL: Samsung Electronics showed off virtual reality hardware alongside its latest Galaxy S7 smartphones, in its latest attempt to breathe life into its premium line and wrest ascendancy back from Apple.
The new phones go on sale on March 11 sporting a 5.1-inch screen using its own Exynos or Qualcomm processors, with a larger 5.5-inch Edge model equipped with the same kind of wraparound display the company debuted last year. While they look almost identical to the S6 line, Samsung is bringing back a memory-card slot and adding a longer-life battery after the absence of a removable power unit alienated fans last year.
Samsung’s efforts to win back customers saw it keep the form and shape of last year’s models while fixing its shortcomings and touting their potential role in the coming virtual reality boom. With earnings sliding in a stalling smartphone market and the shares battered by three straight annual declines, South Korea’s biggest company needs a hit product after the S6 failed to set the records that had been predicted.
“Samsung’s trying to shift consumers’ sights to bundled products, such as VR headsets and a 360 degree camera, which would help it keep the smartphone margin from decline,” Lee Jae Yun, an analyst at Yuanta Securities, said in Seoul. “This is a good try but Samsung can’t help slashing the prices of new premium smartphones to keep its market share.”
Reduced drain
At the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Samsung took the wraps off a 360-degree camera designed to work with the S7. Ian Fogg, an analyst with IHS Technology, called the Gear 360 accessory a ‘halo’ product that will help boost sales of the smartphone in a decelerating global market.
“The market for the smartphone is obviously slowing down a little bit,” Jean-Daniel Ayme, vice president of European telecom operations at Samsung, said in an interview.
“When you’re using one of these new devices, this is more than a phone, this is your camera, your MP3 player, your TV, your recorder, it’s everything and more, and more is coming.”
Samsung abandoned removable batteries and a memory card slot from its marquee phone last year as it sought to make its devices thinner.