Samsung's new flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, on Friday officially go on sale worldwide to challenge iPhone lineup's market dominance, while Apple's iWatch began taking orders at its Tokyo and was set to start global online reservations.
Samsung Electronics Co. said the new galaxy series will be first sold in 20 countries including South Korea, the United States, Britain and Germany, and will expand to other regions step by step in future.
Samsung improved on a few core elements of the new Galaxy series including design, build quality and the fingerprint sensor to lure consumers.
Samsung's Galaxy S6, first showcased last month, is equipped with a wireless charging system, a new developed payment system " Samsung Pay" and a selfie sensor on its back. Samsung has also shortened the responding time of camera by making users just double tap the home button to access the 16-megapixel main camera in less than a second.
Fresh new designs have been added by Samsung to fire back on iPhone 6.
S6 Edge has captured more attention because of its curve display, whose rounded sides can also show e-mail, texts, missed calls and app activity.
Samsung anticipated its new products could help it regain the dominance of the premium global smartphone market which is now lead by its main rivals Apple Inc.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that in the fourth- quarter of 2014, Apple surpassed Samsung by accounting for 20.4 percent of the global smartphone market, while Samsung only took up 19.9 percent. The Korean mobile giants was shocked by the result as it took up 29.5 percent of the market a year earlier compared to Apple's 17.8 percent.
Samsung predicted that sales of the new Galaxy series will surpass the previous ones. Shin Jong-kyun, CEO of the IT and Mobile Division, told local media that Galaxy S6 and Edge will sell more than any other models.
South korea's Chosun Daily reported that the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge got over 300,000 preorders as of Wednesday, a record figure for any Galaxy smartphone.
