Majority Of Analysts Give Thumbs Up To Samsung Galaxy S IV

March 15, 2013

Immediately after Samsung launched its much-awaited and media-hyped latest gizmo Galaxy S IV from its stable of Galaxy family, many leading analysts have reacted positively to its hardware and innovative features.

“Once you spend time with the Galaxy S 4, I’m very confident you’ll find how its innovations make your life simple and fuller,” said JK Shin, president of Samsung Mobile Communications, at the company’s first promotional event for its flagship smartphone.

The new features illustrate Samsung’s drive to make its phones stand out from the crowd of Android smartphones. At this point, Samsung appears to be trying to kill the competition with sheer volume of new features — there should be something here for everyone, even if most of these new features won’t be used by most users,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Ovum.

“This is Samsung’s time right now,” said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. “They are clearly gaining more attention this time around than they ever have.”

“Samsung’s momentum has been tremendous if you look at where they were three years ago to where it is today in the smartphone market,” said Chris Jones, an analyst at Canalys.

“Right now Apple is the challenger, and basically the power dynamics have changed already,” said Tero Kuittinen, an analyst at Alekstra, which helps companies reduce their phone bills. “Suddenly, Apple looks a little defensive.”

To defend its lead in the market, Samsung will have to introduce capabilities in devices and set trends, said Chetan Sharma, a mobile communications consultant. But Mr. Kuittinen of Alekstra said Samsung has been setting the trends for a while. This year, Apple should introduce an iPhone with an even bigger screen, he said.

“They knew that if you do a phone with a huge 5-inch display, it will have big demand because it turns out people really want to have a phone with an enormous screen,” he said. “Apple didn’t know that.”

The Galaxy S IV will be available from mid April in select markets and its price has not been announced yet,