Samsung may have created the phablet category with its Galaxy Note line, but this Friday will be the first time the phablet launches in the shadow of an iPhone rival.
Samsung announced today the latest addition to its hit phablet line, the Galaxy Note 4, will go on sale in Korea on Friday 26 September.
The new 5.7-inch display Note 4 will also be available in 140 other markets by the end of October, and while it hasn’t specified dates or locations, last week Samsung announced that the handset will go on sale in the UK on Friday 10 October.
Samsung’s Note 4 sales launch follows Apple boasting earlier this week that it had sold 10 million of its newest iPhones over the first weekend they were available. Apple didn’t break out sales of each device, but claimed it could have sold more had more been available.
By comparison, the Korea Times has reported that sources within Samsung claim the company aims to ship 15 million Note 4 devices within the first 30 days.
Also, Samsung hasn’t revealed international pricing yet for the Note 4, but it’s recommended retail price has been set at 957,000 won ($921).
The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus are markedly larger than predecessors from Apple but smaller than the Note 4. And it may turn out that Apple has a few lessons to learn from Samsung when it comes to choices of materials for the larger form factor with complaints emerging that the iPhone 6 Plus’s lightweight metal frame has bent out of shape simply while sitting in a pocket.
While Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus is available in major western markets free of competition for the time being, Associated Press today reported that the Note 4 will also be available in China on 26 September. The iPhone 6 is in the final stages of regulatory approval, Reuters reported yesterday.
