Desperate to hold onto share up against a surging Apple and their large iPhone 6 Samsung was initally tippede to launch the device in Berlin at IFA.
The Company is believed to have moved up the launch date this year to mid-August to avoid being drowned out by hype around Apple’s annual September iPhone event.
The Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, has all the features of the company’s popular flagship device, in the larger-size format pioneered by the Galaxy Note series.
When Samsung launched its first Galaxy Note device in 2011, the company virtually created a new category for oversize handsets that, while mocked at first, came to dominate the mainstream smartphone market.
Some market-data trackers said earlier this year that, after the release of the new iPhones, Apple had topped Samsung in quarterly smartphone sales for the first time since 2011. And earlier this month, Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Technology Market Research said the two iPhones had occupied the No. 1 slot in smartphone sales for a ninth consecutive month in June, ahead of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
The WAll Street Journal said that releasing the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus allows Samsung to try to capitalize again on the popularity of its curved-edge flagship device, the Galaxy S6 Edge, which was a hit with critics and consumers when it was released in April.
However, the company underestimated demand for the Galaxy S6 Edge, leaving its factories unprepared to pump out enough of the device, which uses a difficult advanced technology to curve the front screen of the handset.
The company says that it has now ramped up supply to meet consumer demand, though it remains unclear whether Samsung might have missed its opportunity to cash in on hype around the Galaxy S6 Edge.
Samsung’s August launch event also could include the release of the company’s first smartwatch in about a year, people familiar with the matter said, cautioning that a final decision still hasn’t been made.
For Samsung, a new smartwatch would be its first since the company released a spate of the devices in 2013 and 2014.
With its new smartwatch, Samsung will be looking to advance its push into mobile payments as an alternative to Apple’s eponymous payment system.
The smartwatch is likely to feature a limited form of Samsung’s payment software, ChannelNews has been told that Samsung has approched the New South WAles Government with a view to building in an Opal Card capability.
|
