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The wait is practically over -- Samsung's latest Galaxy range smartphones hit the shelves
in Korea this morning. Samsung says it focused on adding as many
features as possible,... and is confident the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will break the company's
past sales records. Kim Min-ji reports.
Will Samsung's latest smartphones be able to turn tables in the much saturated smartphone
market? After being unveiled to the public last month,...
the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge were launched in some 50 countries worldwide,... including
its home turf. You can pick up a 32 gigabyte Galaxy S7 for
690 U.S. dollars in Korea,... and the Galaxy S7 Edge for 770 dollars -- both slightly cheaper
than their predecessors. Samsung says they focused on addressing consumers'
wants and needs.
"Our aim in making the S7 and S7 Edge was to make them much more valuable and comprehensive
than other conventional smartphones. We tried to incorporate in the latest models the innovations
that consumers wanted in a phone."
So what can we look out for in the latest models?
"The metal and glass encased smartphones come with batteries that last a lot longer… water
and dust resistance… not to mention some of the popular features from the previous
S6 model."
Samsung has also adopted what it calls a "dual pixel sensor" for the cameras... for the first
time in smartphone history -- which will enhance photo quality to levels of high-end cameras,...
and has brought back the micro SD card slot for enhanced memory capacity.
With that,... the tech giant says its confident that sales of the Galaxy S7 will surpass that
of the previous S6,... which sold about 38 million units last year.
But with Samsung's local rival LG Electronics soon to launch its new G5 -- the industry's
first "modular type" smartphone, which can connect with various accessories to improve
sound and enhance camera functions -- the world's biggest smartphone maker is in for
a tough challenge.
"The design is not very different from its previous model and rather than focus on innovation,...
it's more like... being faithful to the basics. Rather, it's the new LG smartphone that's
under the spotlight. The modular smartphone is likely to create a market sensation."
While analysts say the release of the latest models may bring a slight uptick in profits
in Samsung's mobile division, they don't have major game-changing aspects that will win
over consumers. Kim Min-ji, Arirang News.