New | New Samsung smartphone said to offer wrap-around screen
Korean electronics giant using its expertise in displays and chips to recapture innovation edge
Samsung Electronics plans to release two new versions of its top-tier Galaxy S smartphone next month, including a model with a display covering three sides, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Both phones will have all-metal bodies and use Samsung's most advanced processor chips, the people said. The second model to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Spain will only have a front-facing display, they said. Both phones will have 5.1-inch screens.
Samsung has been stung by Apple's new iPhones, ceding global market share after the larger-screen devices captured sales in a segment pioneered by the Galaxy lineup. Asia's biggest technology company is using its skills in displays and chips to recapture its innovation edge and revive earnings that have slumped for three consecutive quarters.
The company unveiled its first device with a multiple-sided screen last year with the Galaxy Note Edge, a 5.6-inch phone with a display stretching down the right side so users can read messages and news from an angle.
The new Galaxy phones, developed under the Project Zero codename, will use metal frames supplied by BYD Electronic International, a subsidiary of BYD, the Chinese carmaker partially owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
Samsung hinted at a wraparound screen in invitations this month to a March 1 unpacking event in Barcelona before the Mobile World Congress, the same event it chose last year to unveil its Galaxy S5.