Samsung muscle its arsenal against Apple – Le Soir

The South Korean giant announces launch dates for its mobile payment system and two new large format smartphones.

The new Galaxy S6 Edge – © AFP

The South Korean group Samsung s ‘Thursday has new weapons in its fight against US rival Apple, by revealing launch dates for its mobile payment system and two new large format smartphones.

Samsung Pay will start on August 20 in Korea and September 28 in the United States. The group also intends to deploy it in China, the UK and Spain, but did not give dates for now.

The service will be integrated with an update on Galaxy smartphones and S6 S6 edge out in the spring. It will be pre-installed on new Galaxy models S6 + and edge note5 Galaxy, Samsung presented Thursday in New York and confirming his bet on “phablettes” very large screens: theirs display diagonal of 5.7 inches (14 5 centimeters).

“Now the journey continues in the category of large screens that Samsung has created with his first Galaxy Note in 2011,” said JK Shin, head of the mobile division of South Korean group, touting the benefits to view multimedia content and do several things at once.

Cut the grass underfoot Apple

Even Apple, long reluctant to engage in phablettes, it was set last year with the iPhone 6 Plus and 5.5-inch screen (14 centimeters). With iOS 6, a little smaller, it was a great success, to the point of Samsung waver on his throne of world’s largest manufacturer of smartphones.

“Under competitive pressure, Samsung wants to launch its devices before the new iPhone models still make a shadow over the market, “said Daniel Gleeson, an analyst at IHS Technology.

He noted that the South Korean group has an early its ads compared to previous years, where he presented the rather IFA electronics fair in Berlin in early September. The phones come out in the US and Canada from August 21.

Ramon Llamas, an analyst at IDC, talks about “a calculated measure to avoid the Apple marketing assault in September and October” go out when the next iPhone models.

He said Samsung also seeks with two new models to introduce a little more on the high-end market, which is positioned above his American opponent.

If the screens are the same size, the S6 + edge is slightly smaller and lighter. The note5, more oriented to productive tasks, is also equipped with a stylus (S Pen), and Samsung introduced a new “cover-keyboard” can be added.

Both models also incorporate a wireless battery charging technology, according to Samsung is compatible with most existing systems.

Late arrival in payments

The universality is also the argument for Samsung Pay.

The system, which will use the fingerprint of the user, work with payment terminals using NFC contactless technology, such as apple pay, but also technology magnetic transmission (MST) widespread.

“It’s easy, safe, and above available virtually anywhere the card can be slid (in a player), in most cases without additional costs for the merchant “, argued JK Shin.

” Samsung faces tough competition when arriving late on the scene of mobile payments, “cautions Siyun Zeng, a specialist in this matter at IHS.

She recalled that he did not like Apple, which started its own service payments by smartphone last October in the United States and has spread to the UK, the advantage of have accumulated 800 million payment card accounts associated with online music store iTunes.

Siyun Zeng as Ramon Llamas evoke further risk of “friction” in the Android ecosystem.

The internet giant Google, which owns the mobile operating system used by many smartphone manufacturers in the world, starting with Samsung, had indeed announced in late May its own payments system, called Android Pay.

A FP .