Just in time for the fall shopping season, Samsung and Sony are planning to roll out new devices bringing wearable capability and sharper images respectively.
- Samsung’s Galaxy Gear
Samsung Electronics Co. will introduce a wristwatch-like device named the Galaxy Gear next month that can make phone calls, surf the Web and handle e-mails, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The Galaxy Gear will be powered by Google Inc.’s Android operating system and go on sale this year to beat a potentially competing product from Apple Inc., the people said. The device will be unveiled Sept. 4, two days before the IFA consumer electronics show begins in Berlin, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the plans are private.
Asia’s biggest technology company is racing other electronics makers, including Sony Corp., to create a new industry of wearable devices as the market for top-end handsets nears saturation. The global watch industry will generate more than $60 billion in sales this year, and the first companies to sell devices that multitask could lock customers into their platform, boosting sales of smartphones, tablets and TVs.
“It will carve a niche for sure as this is an initial product in the market,” said Chung Chang Won, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Seoul. “Wearable devices could be one of the trends in the smartphone market, but I’m not sure yet whether watches or glasses will set the trend.”
The Galaxy Gear being released next month won’t have a flexible display, though the company is continuing to work on developing a bendable screen, one person said. It will be unveiled the same day as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3, a combination smartphone and tablet computer.
Apple had a team of about 100 designers working on watch-like device, two people familiar with the matter said in February. The Cupertino, California-based company is seeking to introduce its device this year, one of the people familiar said at the time.
Samsung became the world’s largest smartphone maker last year, overtaking Apple. The Suwon, South Korea-based company had about 33 percent of the global smartphone market in the second quarter, while the iPhone maker fell to a three-year low as more consumers chose inexpensive handsets from Chinese makers, according to researcher Strategy Analytics.
- Sony’s Xperia smartphone
Sony, meanwhile, will introduce a flagship Xperia smartphone next month featuring imaging technology developed for its cameras and ultra-high definition TVs, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The new handset will be unveiled Sept. 4 before the start of the IFA consumer electronics show.
Xperia smartphones are part of Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai’s plan to revive Sony with handsets, TVs and game consoles that connect with the company’s entertainment content. To lure customers from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., the Tokyo-based company is using “X-Reality” picture- enhancement chips developed for Bravia TVs and sensors for its Cyber-shot cameras, the people said.
Yu Tominaga, a Tokyo-based spokesman, declined to comment on whether a new Xperia model will be introduced before the IFA show. IFA runs Sept. 6-11.
Apple will unveil its new iPhone at a Sept. 10 event, a person with knowledge of the plans said this month, asking not to be named because the timing isn’t public. The scheduled Xperia introduction would be about a week ahead of Apple’s event.
Sony’s new flagship has been developed under an internal code name of Honami, a Japanese hot-spring area. Sony has been using such names during the development of its handsets, including the Xperia Z, one of the people said. Smartphone shipments in the quarter rose to 9.6 million from 7.4 million a year earlier.
Sony expects to sell 42 million smartphones this year, it said.
Sony’s smartphone market share in the first three months of 2013 stood at 3.8 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Samsung is the world’s biggest smartphone maker with about 33 percent of the market, according to researcher Strategy Analytics.
