Samsung pledges 'this is only the beginning'

Tarek Sabbagh unveiling the Samsung Galaxy S10 in Dubai on Wednesday.

For Samsung Electronics, the Galaxy S10 series marks the 10th year that it has, in its own very special way, changed the landscape of the smartphone world.
It also signals the beginning of a new era in which it has pledged to not exactly be the first, but be the best it can be - all for you.
"This is a new beginning for another decade - and beyond - of innovation," Tarek Sabbagh, head of the IT and mobile division at Samsung Gulf Electronics, told Khaleej Times.
"And it's not only for one or a few years; the way our strategy is going right now in terms of driving meaningful innovation."
Sabbagh was speaking ahead of the UAE launch of Samsung's newest flagship series, the Galaxy S10, in Dubai on Wednesday.
REVIEW: Samsung Galaxy S10+
First unveiled during Samsung's Unpacked event in San Francisco on February 20, the S10 not only celebrates a decade of the Galaxy line-up, but also a number of firsts in smartphones.
Samsung also gave a glimpse of the highly-anticipated Galaxy Fold at the Dubai event. Revealing the device at Unpacked made the company the first manufacturer to unveil an actual foldable mobile.
It's also the first time the South Korean tech giant - the world's biggest maker of mobiles - launched more than two devices at a major event: aside from the usual regular-and-biggie combo in the S10 and S10+, Samsung also unveiled a budget-friendly S10e.
But in a pleasant surprise, more customers during the pre-order phase have opted for the higher-end versions of the series.
According to Sabbagh, 70 per cent of pre-orders were for the S10+. And of that number, 23 per cent were for the 512GB and 1TB versions - a figure that he says normally doesn't breach the single-digit mark.
"That is a huge number given the price difference [between the S10 and S10+]... showing a big shift in the mindset of the consumer," he stressed. "More people are seeing the device as something that can replace several others."
And the crush was so huge that Samsung had to stop taking orders at only the ninth day of its normal 15-day pre-order period as stocks ran out; during those nine days alone, the order volume was 32 per cent higher than last year's Galaxy S9.
A number of world-firsts are in the Galaxy S10 and S10+. They are Samsung's first flagships with a triple-lens camera and an ultra-wide-angle lens that gives a field of view of 123 degrees, more than the human eye can see.
And along with the S10e, the devices also have the first in-screen ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, which maps out a 3D rendering of a finger rendering it fool-proof. They are also the first mobiles to be HDR 10+-certified and have the Wi-Fi 6 standard that ensures faster connectivity.
The highest-specced of the lot are the ceramic models of the S10+ that come with 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage - and adding a 512GB microSD card to it makes it 1.5TB whopper.
In the UAE and GCC, only specific models of the S10 series will be sold: the 128GB versions of the S10e and S10 (Dh2,699 and Dh3,199, respectively), and all models of the S10+ (128GB, 512GB and 1TB at Dh3,599, Dh4,499 and Dh5,799, respectively).
Some of the costs are indeed high, but Sabbagh pointed out that these have been "carefully calculated so users can see all the benefits they're paying for".
'It's not a race'
But amid all the perceived who-gets-there-first on several fronts in the smartphone industry, Sabbagh pointed out that this really isn't - or shouldn't - the case.
"It's not a race," he stressed. "Being No.1 is not about who's able to release something; it's about who's able to release something that will be appreciated," he says. "You can't just release it just to say you were able to release it first."
At the San Francisco event, Samsung also unveiled the 6.7-inch Galaxy S10 5G.
And speaking of surprises, Sabbagh says this is just the beginning as Samsung will be springing up more surprises quite soon.
"A lot of new innovation will be coming soon on both our flagships and mid-rangers that will surprise everyone," he says. "The latest innovation should be available for everybody at the right price."
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com