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Samsung ditches plastic in Galaxy S6

New York - Samsung, locked in a tight race with Apple to be the world's biggest smartphone maker, has unveiled an important new phone that ditches its signature plastic design for more stylish metal and glass.

The South Korean phone manufacturer also unveiled a premium model with a display that curves around the left and right edges so that information can be glanced at on the side.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will both include technology for mobile payments, though Samsung isn't unveiling a service to rival the iPhone's Apple Pay until later this year.

Samsung and Apple have been locked in a smartphone race and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus exploited a pent up demand for larger display devices. Now Samsung's Galaxy will be made with metal and glass - like the iPhone.

Although the resolution of the phones' rear camera remains at 16 megapixels, cameras on both sides will have wider openings to let in more light and make for sharper photos. The phones also promise better focus and colour accuracy - achieved in part by using the infrared capabilities on the phones' heart-rate sensor to detect lighting conditions.

Better design

Earlier on Sunday, HTC announced a new HTC One (M9) smartphone that also sports a better camera, while keeping such previously lauded elements as a metal design and polished finish.

The announcements come on the eve of this week's Mobile World Congress wireless show in Barcelona, Spain.

Samsung Electronics said its new design took years to develop. As phones got thinner, the company inevitably ended up "with a device that's very cold and very industrial", said Hong Yeo, a senior designer at Samsung. The company's "Project Zero" team "was given the freedom to design our dream device", he said.

The new models use glass on both sides, encased in a metal frame. The software will also be simplified. Many of the icons, for instance, will be replaced with text to reduce guesswork.

Previous Samsung phones had removable plastic backs, so the battery could be swapped with a spare. Samsung now joins Apple, HTC and others in favouring a better design over that replacement capability. Samsung is promoting the new phones' ability to charge quickly - in 30 minutes they can reach 50%.

The fingerprint sensor is improved. Instead of swiping down on the home button, you simply touch it, much the way you already do on iPhones. Both the S6 and the S6 Edge are slightly lighter, thinner and narrower than the S5, though they are a tad taller.

Samsung's new phones will incorporate technology from LoopPay, a start-up that Samsung is buying. LoopPay's technology reproduces the signals from a credit card's magnetic swipe, so it can work with existing retail equipment. Most rivals, including Apple Pay, require newer equipment.

The Samsung phones will debut overseas on April 10, at prices to be announced. A US launch date wasn't given. Samsung is also making an S6 version of its Gear VR virtual-reality headset, which currently works only with the Galaxy Note 4.

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