Samsung unveils two new large high-end Android handsets

PanARMENIAN.Net - Samsung has announced two new large high-end Android handsets: the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5, BBC News reports.

Both phones have 5.7in (14.5cm) screens and are going on sale earlier in the year than their previous generations. The launches follow five successive falls in Samsung Electronics' quarterly profits.

Analysts say the popularity of mid-range phones from Chinese rivals, and Apple's shift to bigger iPhones, have dented demand for Samsung's devices. However, the firm remains the world leader in terms of overall smartphone shipments.

The announcements were made at a press conference in New York.

The company also revealed that its smart wallet service, Samsung Pay - which allows the phones to trigger payment card transactions - would go live in South Korea on Aug 20.

That service will be extended to the U.S. on Sept 28 and then to the UK and Spain at an unspecified date.

Like previous versions of the Note, the new version comes with a stylus - which Samsung says makes it suitable for productivity tasks. But the phone now has metal edges and a glass back to give it a more "premium" feel.

In a change of strategy, the South Korean firm has no plans at present to release the Note 5 in Europe - a decision it says is purely for marketing reasons.

One company-watcher said that could be a mistake.

"The Note would have been a good fit for Europe's enterprise market, and if Samsung expects the S6 Edge+ to attract the same business users I don't believe it will succeed," commented Francisco Jeronimo from market research firm IDC.

Unlike last year, there is no "edge" edition of the Note.

Instead, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ is targeted at those who want a "phablet"-sized handset with curved sides.

The "plus" in its name refers to the fact that its screen is both 0.6in (1.5cm) larger than the earlier edition and more scratch-resistant. It now has an extra gigabyte of memory, taking it up to 4GB of RAM to aid multi-tasking, but uses the same in-house Exynos processor as before.

This marks a change from the S5 Plus, which was the same size but contained a faster processor than the original S5, the BBC says.

The two new phones also introduce a couple of new features:

-A button in their camera apps activates a "live broadcast" mode, which streams 1080p high definition video to YouTube and sends invitations to selected acquaintances.

-They support the ultra-high quality audio (UHQA) format. A new hardware component means there should be "less sound distortion" when files saved in the codec are played. Users can also use bundled software to "upscale" existing MP3s.

The new phones go on sale on Aug 21.