Samsung Electronics Co., which plans to showcase its new flagship smartphones next week, is going all out to come up with marketing strategies to best promote its cutting edge device, industry sources said Saturday.
The South Korean tech giant, which suspended the production of the Galaxy Note 7 phablets last year due to battery problems that caused some of the devices to catch fire, plans to unveil the presumed Galaxy S8 next week in New York and London.
The company is betting that the unveiling and the consumer reception will help it overcome the tainted image caused by the faulty phablets.
Industry watchers expect the Galaxy S8 will boast top-notch technologies including an iris scanner and an artificial-intelligence program, along with other attractive features that can raise its user experience to the next level.
Apparently taking the Galaxy Note 7 into consideration, industry sources said the Galaxy S8 will also come with a smaller yet "safer" battery capacity.
Samsung, which released more teasers this week, plans to display the new smartphone at 4,000 locations throughout its home market starting April 1. This can generate considerable positive publicity for the flagship device.
Samsung Electronics is expected to receive reservations from April 7 to 17, while shipping the device in advance for early adopters.
Local buyers who reserved the Galaxy Note 7 before official sales were provided with freebies worth 400,000 won (US$356), industry watchers said Samsung may provide a similar amount of gifts this time around as well to reward early adopters, who can greatly impact consumer sentiment.
Independent smartphone retailers here also kicked off their own promotions with free gifts including laptops or plane tickets, as a rising number of South Koreans are keeping close eyes on the first flagship to be released from Samsung since the battery crisis.
"We are being cautious since if we reveal our marketing strategies too early, other rivals may follow suit," an official at a local mobile carrier said.
"The very few people who actually saw the Galaxy S8 in advance said the device has removed the home button at the bottom, and minimized the overall front bezel," another source said, claiming some would want to buy the new smartphone just for the design.
"We expect demand for the device will be high from the start, and we are focusing efforts to secure enough supplies," the official added. (Yonhap)