Samsung plans to release Galaxy S5 smartphone by April

PanARMENIAN.Net - Samsung Electronics will release its Galaxy S5 smartphone by April and is considering using iris scanning technology for the first time as it readies the new high-end handset to compete with Apple’s latest iPhones, Bloomberg reports.

The S5 will be paired with a new wearable device that will be an evolution of the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of the company’s mobile business, said.

Samsung, which posted profit this week that missed analyst estimates, will debut the new products together as it also boosts marketing of tablet computers.

“We’ve been announcing our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time,” Lee told Bloomberg in an interview. “When we release our S5 device, you can also expect a Gear successor with more advanced functions, and the bulky design will also be improved.”

Samsung, which sells one of every three smartphones globally, is adding new features and models to fend off Apple in the high-end market and Chinese makers luring budget customers with handsets for $100. Asia’s biggest technology company will announce at least one other wearable device this year, Lee said without elaborating.

Samsung registered a design in South Korea in October for eyeglasses that can show information from a smartphone and enable users to take calls.

Sales of the S4, the company’s current marquee handset, slowed after Apple released the iPhone 5s and 5c in September. The 5s includes a fingerprint-identity sensor, and Samsung is considering using an eye scanner in its top-end smartphone.

“Many people are fanatical about iris recognition technology,” Lee said at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “We are studying the possibility.”

Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung this week posted its first profit decline in nine quarters as high-end handset growth slowed and the company paid employee bonuses. Operating profit was 8.3 trillion won ($7.8 billion) in the three months ended December, falling from 9 trillion won a year earlier, the company said.

The Galaxy S4 may have fallen short of consumer expectations because its design was too similar to its S3 predecessor, Lee said. The next handset likely will be different, she said without providing specifications, including screen size.

“When we moved to S4 from S3, it’s partly true that consumers couldn’t really feel much difference between the two products from the physical perspective, so the market reaction wasn’t as big,” Lee said. “For the S5, we will go back to the basics. Mostly, it’s about the display and the feel of the cover.”

The timing of the release is after February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.