Samsung going to launch a new smartphone in China before Apple

Seoul Samsung Electronics Co said today its latest Galaxy Note 4 smartphone will go on sale in China and South Korea later this week as its flagging mobile business tries to defend sales from Apple’s new iPhones.

Samsung said all three Chinese mobile carriers and all three South Korean mobile operators will begin Galaxy Note 4 sales on Friday.

Samsung’s announcement marks the first time the Korean company has released a flagship smartphone in China before other markets.

Apple’s iPhone 6 has yet to arrive in China, the world’s most populous country. But Apple Inc still chalked up 10 million sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models in the first three days after the phones went on sale.

Apple’s new iPhone 6 with its larger screen than previous models eliminates at key advantage for Samsung that lured buyers with the big screens of its Galaxy phones.

The 4.7-inch screen of the iPhone 5 has been increased to 5.5-inches for the iPhone 6 Plus.

The Galaxy Note 4’s display measures 5.7 inches diagonally, slightly larger than the biggest iPhone. The Note series comes with a stylus that Samsung calls “S Pen” for note taking and drawing.

Samsung moved forward its launch schedule for the new Note phone from October after Apple announced the iPhone 6 with a bigger screen.

US sales of the Galaxy Note 4 will start on Oct 17.

Samsung said the Galaxy Note Edge, which has a curved side screen that serves as a second screen to display weather information, clocks and menu buttons, will start going on sale in late October.

iPhone 6 vs Samsung galaxy S5

Apple's new and bigger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are more durable than last year's model and a leading Android phone, a study says.

Apple's iPhone 6, whose screen measures 4.7 inches (11.9 centimeters), did the best across a variety of tests that measures how prone smartphones are to break due to every day accidents, SquareTrade, a company that provides extended protection plans, says.

The iPhone Plus 6, whose screen measures 5.5 inches (14 centimeters), wasn't far behind but lost points because it could slip out of a person's hand since some users may have a hard time gripping its large but slim form, SquareTrade says.

The iPhone 5s, which measures 4 inches (10 centimeters) and came out last year, fared better than Samsung Galaxy S5, which measures 5.1 inches (12.95 centimeters). The Samsung phone got poor marks on several tests including the slide test. The more a phone slides, the greater its chance of falling off the edge of a table.

Still, all four of the smartphones tested had a medium risk of breakage and had no drastic differences among them.

"The phones are getting more and more durable," says Ty Shay, chief marketing officer at SquareTrade. "Manufacturers are paying more attention."

SquareTrade examines the phones based on eight factors, including size, weight, grip and the quality of the front and back panels. The company measured how far the phones slide when pushed across a table on their backs and how well they withstand drops from 4 feet (1.2 meters) and being dunked in water for 10 seconds.

SquareTrade says it uses robots to do the testing to ensure consistency, and rates the phones on a 10-point durability scale, with 10 signifying the highest risk. Apple's iPhone 6 scored the best at 4; the iPhone 6 Plus scored a 5; the iPhone 5s a 6; and Samsung Galaxy S5 a 6.5.

Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus passed the slide test, but the iPhone 5s and Samsung Galaxy's S5 got poor marks in that area. The iPhone 6 Plus was the only one that didn't fare as well when dropped 4 feet (1.2 meters) by the robot. The glass screen survived, but the case separated from the glass. All four phones fared well in the water resistance test.

Aside from larger screens, the new Apple iPhones 6 and 6 Plus announced this month promises faster performance and offers a wireless chip for making credit card payments at stores by holding the phone near the payment terminal. The phones start at $199 with a two-year service contact. The phones went on sale this past week in the U.S. and nine other countries

'Big screen' battle: Apple vs Samsung

Design & build

Apple's new big-screen iPhone looks more premium with its anodized aluminium body and stainless steel buttons. The iPhone 6 Plus features rounded edges and a slim profile just 7.1mm thick.

The Note 4 looks a lot better than the previous iterations of the device with its metal frame and soft-textured back cover but pales in comparison to the iPhone 6 Plus.

The display panel on the iPhone looks more attractive as it is attached with the phone's edges in a seamless manner with a slight curve. On the other hand, Galaxy Note 4 front panel features a 2.5D glass screen for protection. Apple definitely scores more points in the design department.

Display

Apple iPhone 6 Plus sports a 55.5-inch LCD display while the Galaxy Note 4 comes with a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED one.

Samsung takes the lead with a QHD resolution (2560x1440p) while Apple's new iPhone 6 has a full-HD display (1920x1080p). Most users would not be able to distinguish between a full-HD and QHD display unless they look very closely. However, the Note 4 also packs in more pixels per inch at 515ppi compared to iPhone 6 Plus (401ppi). This means text and images would look sharper on the Note 4.

It is a little difficult to compare the internals of the two phones as Apple doesn't offer specifics on processor, RAM and battery. The iPhone 6 Plus comes with a custom Apple A8 chip with 64-bit architecture and M8 motion coprocessor. The chip uses an advanced 20-nanometer process and is faster and more energy efficient compared to the A7 chip. 

The Indian variant of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will most likely be powered by 1.9GHz octa core (1.9GHz quad + 1.3GHz quad Core) Samsung Exynos processor with 3GB of RAM, and a 3220mAh battery. It is not clear if the Exynos chip powering the Note 4 is based on 64-bit architecture.

Apple optimises iOS for its devices so the clock speed and RAM won't matter much. However, the Galaxy Note 4 is one of the most powerful Android devices around.

iPhone 6 Plus comes in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB storage variants while the Note 4 comes with 32GB internal storage and a microSD card slot for expansion. The Note 4 also comes with a fast charging feature.

Camera

Apple has not increased the resolution of the iPhone's rear camera sensor, sticking to 8MP. Samsung on the other hand, offers a 16MP rear camera with the Galaxy Note 4. Megapixels don't really decide the quality of images and Apple's image sensor and processing engine ensures better photos compared to phones that come with high-resolution sensors.

iPhone 6 Plus comes with optical image stabilization, just like the Note 4, taking its already good camera hardware to the next level. It can take 43MP Panorama shots and record 60fps normal video and 240fps slo-mo video.

Galaxy Note 4 comes with 4K video recording while the iPhone 6 Plus camera is limited to full-HD. With 4K hardware still not being mainstream, we don't think it will matter.

The iPhone 6 Plus sports a 1.2MP front camera and comes with a burst mode, while Note 4 features a 3.7MP front camera.