Samsung's quad-camera phone to hit UAE shelves this week

Tarek Sabbagh launching the Samsung Galaxy A9 in Dubai on Monday.

Research quoted by Samsung showed that a good chunk of camera users that heavily utilise its camera need to buy additional lenses to capture certain scenes, particularly wide-angle shots.
They've found a way to help those people save their money and sweat for carrying around those extra accessories.
The South Korean tech bellwether on Monday officially launched in the UAE its newest entry into the increasingly-interesting smartphone race, the Galaxy A9, which boasts the world's first quadruple-lens camera on a mobile.
The smartphone, while indeed not a flagship, could well define the future of photography on mobile devices; it tops the triple-lens setup seen on devices from Huawei and LG - and even from Samsung itself with the recently-launched Galaxy A7.
The 6.3-inch Galaxy A9's camera system consists of a 24MP main camera, a 10MP telephoto lens, an 8MP ultra-wide lens and a 5MP depth camera.
And no, this isn't just any gimmick: combined, Samsung promises you don't need to buy those sold-separately lenses and accessories to get the shots you want.
"We always launch innovation that is meaningful and serves a purpose," Tarek Sabbagh, head of Samsung Gulf Electronics' IT and mobile division, told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the event.
He also points to the demographics of the Middle East, particularly the UAE and Dubai, which has a very large young population and is a travel hotspot.
The third-party research earlier mentioned, which he referenced, showed that 31 per cent of camera-heavy users need to buy extra accessories for their devices to capture wide-angle shots and other scenes. As such, incorporating innovation to eliminate the need for these will come as a huge bonus for them.
Also, in a pleasant surprise, the industry-first quad-lens system wasn't launched on either Samsung's flagship Galaxy S or Note series. Sabbagh says putting it on a mid-ranger - the Galaxy A9 is priced at only Dh2,149 and will hit shelves on Thursday - makes sense; the demographic for this vertical is huge, and users in this category want advanced features at more reasonable prices.
As users of flagship devices have their own priorities for purchasing such, it "makes more sense that these innovations come to mid-range users first; they are the ones who really appreciate it and use it", he added.
"Flagship users are in a different age group and have a different demand, so this [quad-lens camera] is more suitable for the millennials who use mid-range smartphones... we are talking the language of the consumer - you can't just launch it on a flagship just for the sake of being able to say you were able to do so."
Asked about whether a triple- or quad-lens system will be coming in the next Galaxy flagship, Sabbagh declined to into specifics but promised that there will be "new innovations in all segments."
"We will be launching innovations that will suit Galaxy S users," he added.
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com