The Galaxy S3, unveiled at an international launch held at London’s Earls Court arena, includes innovative new features such as eye tracking so that the screen stays on while a user is looking at it.
It will be on sale in the UK by the end of May and will be free with contracts of £36 per month.
Samsung is hoping the device will replicate the success of its predecessor, the SII, which has sold a total of 20million units.
The S3 also features a 4.8” display, one of the largest on the market, and the ability to automatically initiate a call to a contact onscreen when the phone is held up to its user’s face. Samsung has also added voice control, similar to Apple’s ‘personal assistant’ Siri, and will offer 50GB of online storage via a partnership with Dropbox.com.
The Korean manufacturer claimed the phone was "Inspired by nature, developed for humans".
Critical reaction to the new device was positive, from both analysts and commentators. Stuart Miles, founder of technology website Pocket-Lint.com, said "The Samsung Galaxy S III is likely to be one of the phones of the year offering just about all the tech you could want from a mobile phone. It’s a device that has the power and capabilities to not only take on the iPhone 4S but also the next iPhone as well.”
Apple’s iPhone currently claims 29 per cent of the UK smartphone market, compared to Samsung’s 20 per cent, the latest figures from YouGov said.
Although Samsung makes less money per handset than Apple, it has a strong presence in both smartphone and the less sophisticated feature phone markets. Yougov said the manufacturer is in a strong position, across its growing range of devices, to convert feature phone users to the more profitable smartphone models. Resurgent brands such as rival HTC, however, are also aiming for the same market, and despite the decline of BlackBerry, Nokia and Microsoft are also investing heavily.
