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Cape Town - Well, it’s finally here. Samsung has announced that its new flagship smartphone is available in South Africa.
The Galaxy Alpha is the first from the South Korean company that has an aluminium cover and powered by an octa core processor (two quad core processors).
"The Galaxy Alpha was built and designed based on the specific desires of the consumer market", said Craige Fleischer, Director of Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics SA.
The company may have been stung by criticism that its flagship lacked the aura of manufacturers like HTC and Sony.
But the Alpha is not just a pretty face: The smartphone has serious power with 2GB of RAM, 32GB of memory onboard and a 12 megapixel main camera.
The device has a 12cm (4.7 inch) display and around 7mm thick.
Rival Apple on Tuesday also released its latest iPhone 6 with a larger screen size and a Plus version which will compete in the phablet market.
While it is too early for details of local pricing for the iPhone, the Alpha will retail for R8 999 or R499 over 24 months on a contract from Vodacom.
The Samsung device runs Android 4.4 (KitKat) and has the similar native software to the Galaxy S5. It weighs in at 114g and has no micro-SD card slot.
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