Talk about cut throat competition. In a move believed to be driven by the rivalry between Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), news just in suggests that Samsung’s plans to launch a new Galaxy S4 are well in sight. According to well placed sources, the South Korean tech heavyweight plans to unveil its own next generation smartphone in Barcelona, Spain at the Mobile World Congress, slated for February next year.
These plans were made known after local suppliers and company officials spoke to the Korea Times on Sunday. One particular official, who chose to remain anonymous, cited that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) was ready to launch the smartphone, suggesting that the company had been working on the handset for a reasonable amount of time. The official also noted that at the latest, the Galaxy S4, would grace the shelves of global electronic retail stores a month after the launch.
The Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) official also revealed that the Galaxy S4, like the iPhone 5, would be compatible with LTE. In addition to that, the official remarked on the S4’s ability to effortlessly rival Apple’s newly released iPhone 5; arguing that the 9 month interval between the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy S4 was instrumental in quelling competition from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). To exclaim his point, he confirmed that the new handset would flaunt unprecedented software advancements and hardware specifications.
Other in-depth details on the new handset’s specifications also reveal that it will have a 5 inch screen, up from the S3’s 4.8 inch screen size. The phone will still use Google’s Android as the operating system.
Local suppliers, through their executives, equally shed light on the Galaxy S4, noting that it would have its in-house Exynos-branded application processor, as well as other quad-core chips. One local supplier’s executive noted that despite exhibiting some external disparities with older models, the new Galaxy S4 would maintain the iconic rectangular shape and the rounded corners. The executive also added that the launch of the Galaxy S4 was in line with the company’s one-year product schedule strategy. “Samsung wants to keep its one-year product schedule and the Galaxy S IV will be the first to match that strategy,” he noted.
This new Galaxy S4 will certainly be a game changer. It will directly rival Apple’s iPhone 5 and will dig further into iPhone 5’s current market share (the share that was spared by the Galaxy S3).
This could prove to be trouble for Apple’s new iPhone. The iPhone 5 has already sparked mixed reactions. Some industry analysts say that it is not as revolutionary as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) would want you to believe.