Dubai: Three new flagship smartphones from Samsung, LG and Sony are going to be launched in the next two weeks in the UAE. The flagship models are Samsung Galaxy Note 3, LG G2 and Sony Xperia Z1.
LG is launching its G2 on Thursday while Samsung its launching its Note 3 and Galaxy Gear smartwatch on Sunday and Sony Z1 on Wednesday.
“This baby [G2] is the most awesome baby from LG so far. The G2 is the best, beautiful design and specs wise also when compared to other babies. We are ready and I have 100 per cent confidence on our product. The problem we have been facing is the marketing spend,” D Y Kim, President of LG Gulf, told Gulf News.
The 5.2-inch device is powered by Qualcomm quad-core 2.26GHz processor with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It also sports 3GB RAM, 13MP rear camera and 2.1MP front camera.
“I agree that LG is not good at marketing. So we are doing a different strategy this time. We are currently working to see our model to be available at every retailer stores across the UAE by end of the month,” he said.
When asked whether it is better than Samsung’s S4, Kim said that G2 cannot be compared to S4 and can only be compared to S5 which means that it has more features than S4. “The price has to be higher than S4 but LG is expected to be keep same as S4 which is expected to be around Dh2,699.”
He said the Nexus 5, the flagship model in collaboration with Google, is expected to be launched in November. LG will be doing a big marketing campaign for G2 during Gitex Shopper.
According to Deepak J. Babani, CEO of Eros Group, Samsung’s Note 3 is expected to be available on Monday (23rd). The stocks will be available on Monday (23).
He said the price is not yet fixed. “The first stocks will always be tight,” Babani said.
But according to market sources, the indicative price is expected to be around Dh3,000 for Note 3 and Dh1,000 for Galaxy Gear. Gear will be available by end of the month.
The global launch of the product is on September 25.
“The Note 3 is fabulous product and Samsung has not only improved on the sizing and the weight but also on the features. It is very simple to use. More power has been added to boost computing,” Babani said.
“We are expecting to double our sales volume than Note 2,” he said.
The 5.7-inch device is powered by quad-core 2.3GHz processor with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It also sports 3GB RAM, 13MP rear camera and 2 MP front camera.
Sony’s Xperia Z1 features the 2.2 GHz quad-core with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It also sports 2GB RAM, 20.7MO rear camera and 2MP front camera. It is expected to be more than Dh3,000.
“Looking at the market situation, LG is nowhere to be seen. They have not created that much hype in the market. They have decent numbers in Africa, Europe and US but not in the Middle East,” Hamza Saleem, Senior research analyst at International Data Corporation, a research firm, said.
He said that LG needs to push itself harder at promoting its products despite coming out with good products.
Personally, Saleem says Z1 looks promising. It has good compatibility with other devices like Samsung. Sony devices have good in-house developed screens, water and dust proofs on premium phones while Samsung does not have it on S4. It has created a separate phone — Galaxy S4 Active — for dust and water proof but the specs are not that high as S4.
Speaking of Note 3, he said that Note 1 and Note 2 had done extremely well. The good thing about Note 3 is the screen size. Samsung has kept it at less than six inches. If it had gone beyond six inches it would have been a phablet (tablet-phone combo) size.
