The two versions of the Galaxy S9 have 6.2-inch (15.8 cm) and 5.8-inch wrap-around screens. PHOTO | AFP
Summary
- With the global smartphone market set to stay flat or even shrink after meagre growth of one per cent last year, vendors are focusing on features designed to encourage consumers to ditch their old phones earlier than they would have previously.
- Samsung launched the S9 at the mobile gadget fair in Barcelona, attracting thousands of reporters to see how the world’s biggest smartphone maker could innovate in a category in which the big players are technologically closer than ever.
- It features improved cameras, an artificial intelligence-powered voice tool, and social media functions that are easier to deploy than previous offerings.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its flagship Galaxy S9
smartphone on Sunday with an emphasis on visual applications for social
media, hoping to attract tech savvy young consumers to weather a market
slowdown.
With the global smartphone market set to stay
flat or even shrink after meagre growth of one per cent last year,
vendors are focusing on features designed to encourage consumers to
ditch their old phones earlier than they would have previously.
Samsung
launched the S9 at the mobile gadget fair in Barcelona, attracting
thousands of reporters to see how the world’s biggest smartphone maker
could innovate in a category in which the big players are
technologically closer than ever.
DJ Koh, Samsung’s
president of IT and mobile communications, said the most important
function of a phone today was “visual communication”, and the Galaxy S9
had been designed for the visual and social generation.
It features improved cameras, an artificial intelligence-powered
voice tool, and social media functions that are easier to deploy than
previous offerings.
New features include an automatic
super-slow motion camera setting that looks primed to show up on
Instagram feeds soon, and software that turns selfies into instant
emojis.
Analyst Ben Wood from CCS Insight said the S9 and larger screened S9 Plus were all about incremental gains over the S8.
“The
S9 underlines the dilemma all leading smartphone makers are facing.
Innovation in smartphones has plateaued and now it is all about marginal
gains be that screen technology, camera features and processing power,”
he said.
“This is potentially a tough sell for Samsung
but the real goal of the S9 is making an already good product even
better as Samsung takes the fight to Apple,” he said.
Huawei
Technologies Co Ltd, Samsung’s Chinese rival which ranked third
globally in sales last year, launched a notebook PC and two Android
tablets earlier on Sunday. It is launching its new flagship in Paris
next month.
“With the absence of any flagship
smartphone announcement from any of its major competitors, Samsung had a
great marketing window of opportunity to claim leadership in the
high-end smartphone market, coming back in the race with Apple’s iPhone
X,” said Forrester analyst Thomas Husson.
But he
expected Huawei to launch a highly competitive new smartphone
differentiated by the use of more advanced Artificial Intelligence
technologies and more aggressive pricing.
“To truly
lead the space, I continue to believe Samsung must accelerate its
transition toward more content, services, software innovation and
partnerships,” he said.
Social generation
Samsung’s
AI-powered Bixby service allows S9 users to point its camera to
translate a foreign-language sign, without having to swipe through menus
or choose settings every time.
Samsung also plans to
boost smartphone accessories such as wireless chargers and mobile
docking station that allows smartphone features on desktop, a senior
Samsung executive said.
Younghee Lee, head of Samsung’s Marketing for the Mobile Business, declined to provide a sales forecast for the S9.
Research
firm Counterpoint forecasts it will sell 43 million sets in 2018, 23
percent more than the 35 million S8 models shipped last year.
Global
smartphone sales saw an unprecedented decline of 9 percent in the
fourth quarter, averaging 2017 growth to just 1 percent, a far cry from
growth of about 40 percent between 2011 and 2015, according to research
provider Strategy Analytics.
While Samsung kept its
supremacy over Apple Inc with about 21 percent of market share,
Counterpoint says, it faces tough competition after it lost ground in
markets such as India, China and Western Europe in the fourth quarter.
Chinese
rivals such as Huawei and Xiaomi Inc are making major inroads in these
markets, aided by strong sales of affordable products that boast many
high-end features and sturdy design.
Lee said Samsung’s huge scale and its “agility to listen and learn” ensured it would continue to grow in China and India.
The
two versions of the Galaxy S9 have 6.2-inch (15.8 cm) and 5.8-inch
wrap-around screens, and will go on sale on March 16 in most countries.
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