Samsung moves Note 4 launch date to beat iPhone 6 into China

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The iPhone 6 came in like a wrecking ball... Photo: Vevo
The iPhone 6 came in like a wrecking ball... Photo: Vevo

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is a 10 million unit selling wrecking ball — and Samsung is running scared.

Trying to boost its falling mobile sales, Samsung announced on Wednesday that its new Galaxy Note 4 smartphone will go on sale in China and South Korea as early as this Friday, with the handset available on all mobile carriers in both countries by the end of the month.

For those keeping track, that’s before much of the rest of the world, including the U.S.

Why are China and South Korea getting Samsung’s flagship handset before nearly everyone else? Because the iPhone 6 isn’t available in these markets yet, which has caused a mad dash for the South Korean company to try and get in there first — particularly since the massive iPhone 6 and 6 Plus has now neutralized Samsung’s big-screen differentiator.

“The positive reaction from consumers to those two Apple devices prompted us to launch the Note 4 earlier than previously scheduled,” an official from Samsung’s marketing department admitted. “Samsung will be aggressive in promoting the Note 4 as it’s true that we are being challenged and pressured amid a difficult situation.”

In that spirit, Samsung is throwing everything it can at the iPhone 6: including shipping 15 million Note 4s in the first 30 days after launch, and offering the lowest price tag for a Note device since the series started in 2011.

Will it be enough to make any dent in the Apple machine, which is looking set to arrive in China after a frustrating delay caused by regulatory difficulties? We’ll have to see, but when you think that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are proving such a force that they’re even disrupting notebook sales old rival Samsung may have bitten off more than it can chew.

Source: Korea Times

Via: ABC News

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