Major U.S. telecom companies including AT&T (T), Verizon Communications (VZ), Sprint-Nextel Corp (S), U.S. Cellular (USM) and T-Mobile are planning to introduce Samsung Electronics’ latest offering – Galaxy SIII – later this month. We believe that the roll out is an attempt by the Korean giant to challenge the growing market share of Apple Inc (AAPL) in the high-end smartphone segment.
Galaxy SIII is one of the most anticipated releases of the year. It is a light weight and powerful device that runs on the latest Ice Cream Sandwich version of Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system. Some of its features include a 4.8 inch HD touch screen, a dual core 1.5GHz snapdragon platform and an eight-megapixel camera as well as a 1.9 megapixel front facing camera. The phone is expected to have a starting price of $199 with each operator slated to have its own specific price offerings.
Samsung Electronics, the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, shipped nearly 42.2 million devices in the first quarter of 2012 – compared to Apple’s 35.1 million – that translates into a market share of 29.1% and 24.2%, respectively.
The growing market share represents the telecom giant’s popularity with wireless carriers and customers. We believe that Samsung is launching Galaxy SIII as a potential competitor of iPhone 4S, which is performing well due to its availability with major telecom carriers and retailers across the globe.
Galaxy SIII has a unique sharing facility for content documents, videos and images in quick time. It has toppd iPhone 4S in several departments and is already being viewed as the best smartphone in the market.
The Galaxy series of smartphones has been the biggest competitor for iPhone over the years. However, the real test for Galaxy SIII will come when Apple Inc. launches its iPhone 5 in the latter half of 2012.
