Samsung ups its game with two new smartphones
Samsung Electronics New Zealand has unveiled two new flagship smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are made from metal and glass rather than the plastic that was used on the S5, in what Samsung says is a "new and absolutely unrivalled global standard in design, craftsmanship and performance.
"By listening to our customers, and learning from both our success and our missteps, we continuously push forward new technologies and ideas," says JK Shin, president and head of IT - Mobile Communications Division at Samsung.
"With a reimagined design, robust partner network and truly innovative services, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge offer two completely differentiated products that deliver the ultimate in smartphone options." Stefan Lecchi, head of telecommunications for Samsung Electronics New Zealand, says, "We set out to create a smartphone that could do more, faster, so that our customers can give more time to the people and things that make a difference to their lives – whether that's work, play or just simply staying in touch.
"We've absolutely delivered that – and what's more, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge also have a stunning look and feel. Smart has totally invented beautiful, and we're excited to see how Kiwis will respond," he says.
Samsung will be looking for big success with their latest offerings, after the last version of the Galaxy smartphone failed to impress. When the S3 was launched in 2012, it became a top seller and helped Samsung gain a strong hold on the market.
Features: • Metal and glass design. • Range of colours available. • Equipped with front (5MP) and rear (16MP) cameras with Optical Image Stabilisation. • The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge offer fast charging that's 1.5 faster than the Galaxy S5, giving 2 hours of HD video play after only 10 minutes of charging. • Fully embedded wireless charging technology. • Built on the upgraded, end-to-end secure mobile platform Samsung KNOX, offering defence grade features for real-time protection from malicious attacks. • Ready out-of-the-box for business. • The devices work with the likes of Mobile Iron, Airwatch, and Microsoft Office 365.
"As business works increasingly in the Cloud, security is enhanced with a touch fingerprint scanner, super quick authentication and encrypted data saved in secure device storage," the company says. Samsung also announced the launch of Samsung Pay; Samsung's mobile payment service. Protected by SamsungKNOX, fingerprint scanning, and advanced tokenisation, Samsung Pay works with both NFC and MST and Barcode technology.
Samsung Pay is not expected to be available in 2015 in New Zealand, however Samsung has a partnership with Semble, bringing together Paymark and mobile network operators (2degrees, Spark and Vodafone) with banking partners (ASB and BNZ) to offer an integrated mobile wallet experience to Kiwis.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge and more than 700,000 Samsung devices will be able to make smartphone payments using Semble. This is set to launch early 2015.
