Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) may rush the launch of its next flagship smartphone Galaxy S6. The Korean company badly needs a top-end smartphone that could cut through the clutter of competitors and stand out in the market. Earlier this week, Samsung issued its preliminary third-quarter results.
Can Samsung afford to wait until MWC 2015?
The electronics giant told investors that its Q3 profits declined 59.65% to 4.1 trillion won ($3.8 billion) from 10.2 trillion won in the same quarter last year. The September quarter sales are also set to decline 20.45% from last year. Local smartphone vendors in China and India continue to eat into Samsung’s market share in the low-end market. Meanwhile, Apple’s big screen iPhone 6 is giving the Korean company a tough competition in the high-end segment.
Samsung blamed the “intensified smartphone competition” for decline in its mobile business. In fact, the launch of iPhone 6 prompted Samsung to release its Galaxy Note 4 sooner than expected. The company had initially planned to launch its Note 4 in October. But after Apple reported solid sales for its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the Korean company decided to launch its Note 4 in September itself.
This fueled speculations that the Galaxy S6 may arrive sooner than expected to boost the company’s flagging sales. The Korean giant has historically released its new Galaxy S line phones around the Mobile World Congress. The next MWC event will be held in March 2015. Let’s see if Samsung actually moves the release date to take on the iPhone 6.
Galaxy S6 to sport 4K display
Galaxy S6 is rumored to be the first smartphone with 4K display with a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels. The device will run the latest Android 5.0 L and the highly advanced Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor. Snapdragon 810 supports 4K display. The Galaxy S6 is rumored to get 20-megapixel main camera. We won’t be surprised if it arrives with 4GB RAM and up to 128GB internal storage.
What’s more, after the release of Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Alpha with metal casing, Samsung is unlikely to go back to cheap plastic design for its Galaxy S6. Reports from Samsung’s supply chain suggest that the Galaxy S6 will have a metal chassis. We can also expect a UV sensor, an improved fingerprint sensor, a heart rate monitor and multi-directional microphones.
