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SAMSUNG LAUNCHED THE latest version of its oversized Galaxy Note smartphone earlier than expected Wednesday after rival Apple reported record sales of its latest iPhone 6.
Samsung said the Galaxy Note 4 – initially scheduled for launch in October – would hit stores in South Korea and China this week before being sold in 140 nations by the end of next month.
It would be the first time a flagship Samsung product has gone on sale in China ahead of other markets, reflecting the firm’s desire to battle growing competition from cheaper Chinese-made rivals.
The decision to bring forward the launch also came after rival Apple reported a record opening weekend for its latest range of iPhones, including the iPhone 6 Plus – the firm’s first foray into the big-screen market.
Sales topped 10 million in just three days following Friday’s launch in the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico and Singapore.
The new iPhone is not yet available in China.
Samsung initially pioneered the market for the “phablet” devices – sized between a smartphone and a tablet computer – when it introduced its Galaxy Note series in 2011.
Along with the Galaxy S smartphones, they helped the South Korean giant dethrone Apple as the world’s top smartphone maker.
Samsung has been poking Apple in ads portraying the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as inspired by the Note’s size.
For the past three years, the arch-rivals have been locked in a battle of litigative attrition in close to a dozen countries, with each accusing the other of infringing various patents related to their smartphones and tablets.
But neither has managed to deliver a knock-out blow with a number of rulings going different ways. Last month the companies agreed to drop all patent disputes outside the United States.
Samsung has a diverse product line ranging from memory chips to home appliances, but more than half its profits are generated by mobile devices.
Saturated smartphone market
The mobile market has become increasingly saturated, while competition has intensified from cheaper Chinese handset makers such as Huawei and Lenovo.
In July, Samsung reported a 20% drop in net profit for the second quarter, and its shares are sitting at a two-year low.
Its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, reportedly suffered sluggish sales after tepid reviews greeted its April launch.
“We are temporarily going through a difficult business situation,” Lee Don-Joo, head of sales and marketing for Samsung’s mobile unit, told reporters at Wednesday’s launch in Seoul
“But…we hope that we would be able to recover soon based on our fundamental capability for technical innovation,” Lee said.
Sales of Galaxy Note 3 topped 10 million in two months after its launch in 2013, and Lee predicted the Note 4 would outperform that.
The 5.7-inch Note 4 – priced at 957,000 won (€716) – comes with S-pen stylus allowing users to draw and write on the screen and perform various tasks simultaneously.
The presence of a stylus pen – not offered by iPhone 6 – offers a “unique input methodology,” said Lee Young-Hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile unit.
There is a general consensus that smartphone evolution has hit a barrier that will only allow incremental improvements on existing design and technology, rather than market-changing reinvention.
According to International Data, a record-high 295.3 million smartphones were shipped worldwide in the second quarter.
Samsung remained the world’s top vendor, moving 74 million handsets, but saw its overall market share slip seven percentage points to 25.2%, while China’s Huawei nearly doubled its shipments from the same quarter a year ago.
Samsung also announced Wednesday it plans an October launch for a new version of its Galaxy Gear smartwatch, as well as a virtual reality headset, Gear VR.
The firm has ramped up efforts to promote Internet-enabled wearable devices in a move towards the market for the Internet of Things, in which household appliances and electronic devices are connected through the network.
Apple unveiled its “Apple Watch” earlier this month, with plans to get it into stores early next year.
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With so many parents looking to adopt. I wonder if these children would be better if they were removed earlier and adopted. I worked in a drug addled part of the city for a long time. These kids have no childhood and no future.
This quicker route to adoption has come into place in the uk. To be honest, while it may sound great, you must remember that the legal rights of the natural parents being removed permanently and irreversibly is a big deal. To do this in a very quick fashion could lead to huge issues.
the threshold of abandonment to sever parental rights is (thanks to recent SC jurisprudence) very high
Will Tulsa be robbing kids of parents who test positive for alcohol? This crowd care nothing for the bond of a mother and child and our drunk on their power since the children’s referendum
If you seen the amount of strung out parents with kids in their prams in town I think you would have a different view.
T ool
U don’t know what ur talking about, we fostered our daughter when she was 6, she is now 25, is a social care worker with adults with disabilities, God only knows where she would b if she was left with her mother at that time she was 31/2 when when taken into care and would still at times have problems with her mother which she hasn’t see. Since she was 18
Agree in the case of severe heroin addiction
I don’t think so. Many of these kids are placed with family members, which gives the parents a chance to maybe clean up their act and stay close to their kids. I think in a lot of cases earlier adoptions would mean the parents would have no reason to get clean.
Lisa Tulsa don’t place them with family members remember the story of the loving grandparents they walked all over.
What’s ‘severe heroin addiction’? Are you ok with mild or occasional heroin use?
Joe lets say your on methadone your addicted to heroin and some pen pusher decides to take the only decent thing in your life away. Methadone is far worse than recreational drugs. Severe heroin addiction is shooting up pure heroin
Poor kids do not have a chance or a childhood when you see the role models they have. They unknown to themselves are tomorrow’s criminals. More attention and resources are given to having a TV and Dog Licence !
If you choose drugs over your kids then they should be taken into care
Journal low life
So dublin is a town now is it ye tool get ur facts right
Relax! Have a cuppa and listen to the Dubliners singing ‘Dirty Auld Town’
james who are you having a go at there?
have your say