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Samsung Galaxy S6 hits SA shores April 10

Johannesburg - Vodacom customers could be among the first in South Africa to have a chance at owning Samsung’s latest flagship smartphones.

Electronics giant Samsung launched its S6 smartphone range at the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain last week.

The S6 comes in two versions, the standard flat screen and with a screen that has edges on both sides.

And Vodacom has announced that it is launching the S6 series in SA on April 10 with limited stock.

Features of the phones include a 5.1-inch Quad HD AMOLED display, a 16-Megapixel camera back-facing camera and a 5-Megapixel camera, and octa-core processors with 3GB of RAM

Both devices also come equipped with Google’s Android 5.0 operating system, dubbed ‘Lollipop’.

South Africa is set to be among the first 20 markets in the world to sell the phone.

Samsung slowdown

The South Korean electronic giant’s move to launch its S6 smartphone range to the world comes amid slowing growth for the company.

Samsung’s share in the smartphone market slowed feel from 28.9% in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 19.9% in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the Independent Data Corporation (IDC).


Samsung's standard S6 on the left and the edged version on the right. (Gareth van Zyl)

Competition from Chinese phone makers such as Xiaomi is increasing while even US-based Apple is growing from strength to strength.

“Samsung remained the leader in the worldwide smartphone market in the fourth quarter, however with a narrow 0.2% share lead above Apple,” said the IDC.

“Facing strong competition from Apple, decreasing product margins, and slowing down market demand, it posted a negative year-over-year change for the last three quarters.

“In order for Samsung to regain its share at the top, the company will have to either explore innovations, adopt lower margins, or revamp its high-end strategy. Samsung's Galaxy Note Edge series can be an opportunity to attract the value-oriented consumer,” the IDC said.

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