SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) launched the Galaxy Note 9 “phablet” in New York on Thursday, promising better battery life and quick cooling to attract gamers and rejuvenate flagging sales.
DJ Koh, Samsung's Mobile Communications Division President and CEO, holds up the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 during a product launch event in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The focus on gamer-friendly features appears to be a shift away from Samsung’s previous positioning of the Note as a productivity-boosting device, and is an attempt to lure younger customers as the company’s smartphone sales falter.
Samsung last month posted its slowest quarterly profit growth in more than a year as rivals such as China’s Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] nipped at its heels, challenging the market leader with cheaper, feature-packed models.
An industry source said the new Note would be priced similarly to its predecessor Note 8, which sported dual rear cameras and the biggest screen to date on a Samsung smartphone, and sold at around $950. The Note 8 had recorded brisk pre-orders.
The new Note will support up to 1 terabyte of memory - it will have a 512 gigabyte version that will support an additional 512 GB memory card - the source said, making Samsung the first major smartphone maker to sell a 1TB phone.
Samsung launched the Note 9 at 11 a.m. in New York on Thursday, or Friday midnight in Seoul. The new Note is set to hit stores on Aug. 24, Samsung said.
The release comes about three weeks earlier than its predecessor’s release date, a move prompted by increased competition in the second half of the year as rivals release new smartphone models.
Samsung said the
