Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said it will launch its new Galaxy S
smartphone on March 14 in New York, taking its fight for market
supremacy to Apple Inc's doorstep after reportedly being inundated with
requests from U.S. mobile carriers.
The Galaxy S IV model will heat up
competition in the crucial U.S. mobile phone market, where Apple
surpassed Samsung Electronics as the top mobile phone seller for the
first time in the fourth quarter of 2012.
It will be the first
U.S. launch of Samsung's flagship Galaxy smartphone in three years,
company spokeswoman Chenny Kim said, and comes amid a Samsung
advertising blitz in the United States that has including light-hearted
jabs at Apple's fans.
"We introduced the Galaxy S III in London
last year, and this time we changed the venue (to New York) as we were
bombarded with requests from U.S. mobile carriers to unveil the Galaxy S
IV in the country," Samsung Electronics' mobile division chief JK Shin
was quoted as saying on the Edaily news website.
The new Galaxy S
model is expected to feature a higher-resolution display and camera than
its predecessor, as well as a faster quad-core processor, media reports
said.
Samsung Electronics unveiled its first Galaxy S during the
CTIA mobile trade show in the United States in 2010, followed by the
Galaxy S II at the MWC fair in Spain in 2011 and the Galaxy S III in
London last year.
Samsung Electronics may have lost its lead in
the U.S. handset market but globally the $210 billion South Korean giant
is expected to widen its smartphone advantage over its Cupertino,
California-based rival this year, helped by a broad product line-up.
Apple
investors have grown anxious about the company's prospects amid intense
competition from Samsung's cheaper, Android-powered phones, and signs
the premium smartphone market may be close to saturation in developed
markets.
Apple shares have slumped 15 percent this year and the
company is reportedly slashing orders for screens and other components
from its Asian supplier as intensifying competition erodes demand for
its latest iPhone.
Samsung Electronics stock price has inched up 1.5 percent so far this year.
© Thomson Reuters 2013
MWC 2013 in pictures