Samsung on Friday released the latest version of its flagship Galaxy smartphone, as it announced record first-quarter profits driven by surging sales growth in its mobile division. The Galaxy S4, armed with eye motion control technology that pauses a video when the user looks away, comes with a faster chip and is thinner and lighter than the previous S3 model.
Unveiled last month at New York's Radio City Music Hall, the touchscreen device hit South Korean stores on Friday ahead of a global roll-out over the weekend. Samsung said unexpectedly high demand for the new model was behind shipping issues that resulted in the postponement of its scheduled sales release in the US market. After years of following and refining the iPhone's pioneering innovations - a strategy that resulted in bitter patent battles - Samsung has dethroned arch-rival Apple as the world's top smartphone maker.
But mixed reviews for the Galaxy S4 reflect the increased pressure that comes with that title for Samsung to shed its copycat label and show it can match Apple's creative clout. "Samsung has entered territory that it hasn't been in before, and sales of the S4 will show if it can sustain its new-found status in the market," James Song, analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities, told AFP. The release of the S4 came as Samsung announced a 41.6 percent year-on-year surge in net profit to a record 7.15 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in the first quarter of 2013.
Operating profit stood at 8.8 trillion won, of which the IT and Mobile Communications division accounted for 6.51 trillion won, with sales of 32.82 trillion won in the three months to March. Samsung Electronics share price closed down 0.54 percent Friday at 1,486,000 won.
The general critical consensus on the new S4 model is that it lacks the "wow" factor to really set it apart from its market rivals. "Make no mistake about it, the Galaxy S4 is a great phone, and easily one of the best you can buy right now," said Business Insider. An estimated 60 million units of the Galaxy S3 have been sold globally since its release last May, while the first and second editions racked up sales of 25 million and 40 million respectively.