SEOUL/NEW YORK: Samsung unveiled a new version of the Galaxy Note smartphone on Wednesday with fast 5G network connection and improved camera features, hoping the premium model helps it revive slumping profit and widen the gap with struggling rival Huawei.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s trouble in the second quarter with a nearly 7 per cent jump in smartphone sales, as the Chinese firm sold fewer phones in the global market after it was put on a US trade blacklist in May.
With emphasis on improved video and photography features, which helped Huawei become the world’s No 2 smartphone vendor, Samsung hopes the Galaxy Note 10 will appeal to YouTubers and fans of social media.
Along with its first foldable phone, the big-screen Note 10, unveiled at an event in New York on Wednesday, is the South Korean tech firm’s most important new product planned in the second half of this year to expand its mobile sales.
With two screen sizes of 6.3 inches and 6.8 inches, the Note 10 boasts enhanced video effects such as augmented reality and stabilisation modes, and a front-facing camera centrally located at the top of the display for better selfies. It lacks a headphone jack, a tweak Apple Inc made to its smartphones three years ago.
The Note 10 will be sold starting at $949.99 while the bigger Note 10 plus will start at $1,099. The Note 10 model with 5G capability will start at $1,299.99.
The phone will go on sale from August 23 and square off against Apple’s latest iPhones, which are widely expected to come out later this year. — Reuters
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