Samsung Galaxy S5 Will Have an April Release Date, Samsung Wants to One-up Apple
Samsung's Galaxy S5 has been creating quite the buzz for a few weeks now. According to previous reports, the Korean tech giant will release its next flagship phone around the first quarter of 2014. New information says that the announcement will be during the Mobile World Congress, but the actual release will be in April. The early release got some analysts convinced that Samsung wants to be ahead of the pack, leading Apple before its iPhone 6 release.
According a report from Bloomberg, Samsung may also be releasing another product alongside the handset. While Samsung did not deliver the sales expectations, the company will be releasing new products including a revised marketing scheme for their tablets.
"We've been announcing our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time," Bloomberg quoted Lee Young Hee, executive vice president Samsung Mobile, during the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
"When we release our S5 device, you can also expect a Gear successor with more advanced functions, and the bulky design will also be improved," he added.
Samsung Galaxy S4, the current smartphone offering of the company, had its sales decline following the release of Apple's iPhone 5s and 5c. The iPhone 5s came with a fingerprint scanner for security and other added tasks. Samsung wants to take this further with an eye scanner.
"Many people are fanatical about iris recognition technology," Mr Lee said. "We are studying the possibility but can't really say whether we will have it or not on the S5," he added.
Analysts have yet to decide how Samsung will perform regarding its Samsung Galaxy S5 release. The company has hit some bumps, as it failed to deliver a profit increase. This is the first time for the company to experience such snag following nine quarters. Considering Apple's two new iPhones plus other competitors, Samsung sells a handset for every three bought worldwide, according to analysts.
"When we moved to S4 from S3, it's partly true that consumers couldn't really feel much difference between the two products from the physical perspective, so the market reaction wasn't as big," Mr Lee explained.
"For the S5, we will go back to the basics. Mostly, it's about the display and the feel of the cover," he said.
Samsung will also reportedly release a Galaxy Note phablet later in the year. The upcoming Note may sport a three-sided display letting users read messages in different angles.
"We had put relatively fewer resources and focus, including marketing, on tablets, but from this year we will consider it as one of our key major focuses," Mr Lee stated.
"We still have room to improve," he added.