Samsung Electronics launched the Samsung S8 and S8+ in India at Rs 57,900 and Rs 64,900 respectively.
The phones will be available from May 5 online in Flipkart and Samsung Shop and also in select retail stores. Pre-booking begins today. Those who prebook will get a free Convertible Wireless Charger.
The S8 has a 5.8 inch display and the display in the S8+ is of 6.2 inches. There is no physical home key, but it has been replaced with a intuitive soft key that operates through a pressure sensor under the display. Launching the phones, Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India, said the Bixby was tightly integrated with the devices.
The phones come with an additional security feature - an iris scanner. Samsung is also introducing Bixby, a personal assistant.
Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are equipped with an 8MP front camera with F1.7 lens.
The rear camera is of 12MP with Dual Pixel technology for fast autofocus. It also has an F1.7 lens to capture bright and crisp photos even in low-light environments.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are powered by a 10nm processor allowing for smooth multi-tasking that also reduces battery consumption by 20 per cent.
The devices come with IP68 water and dust resistance, hybrid dual SIM slot, 64GB internal memory with expandable support up to 256GB, and fast and wireless charging capabilities
Samsung has also tied up with Jio. S8 and S8+ users will get a double data offer on the Jio network. On a monthy recharge of Rs 309, users will get 448 GB of 4G data over 8 months.
Samsung also launched DeX, where users can multi-task, edit presentations, and watch 4K videos on the big screen.
The S8 will come in Midnight Black and Maple Gold, while the Galaxy S8+ will also get the Coral Blue variant. Both the phones will come with high-performance earphones from AKG by Harman, as an in-box accessory.
The S8 phones will also support the newly launched Samsung Pay.
PTI adds:
Betting big on S8
The response to Galaxy S8 will be crucial for Samsung which was on the receiving end last year following incidents of its big—ticket flagship, Galaxy Note 7, catching fire.
The Galaxy Note 7 was not available in India but globally, Samsung had to recall the device that had battery issues. The entire episode cost Samsung billions of dollars in losses.
Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone maker with 21.2 per cent market share in 2016. In India too, it led the market with 24.8 per cent share at the end of the December 2016 quarter, as per research firm IDC.
The company has said the pre-orders for Galaxy S8 have exceeded those of its predecessor — S7, a sign that consumers remain unfazed by what has been described as one of the world’s worst product safety failures.
As per reports, one million pre-orders have been booked in South Korea alone, where the device goes on sale from April 21. It will also go on sale in the US and Canada on the same day.
Analysts are of the view that Galaxy S8 could play a major role in the comeback of Samsung in the premium high—end smartphone market.
In India, Samsung has 10 handsets in its portfolio, priced above Rs 25,000. This includes the two new devices, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Galaxy C9 Pro, Galaxy C7 Pro, Galaxy A series (A5 and A7) 2017, Galaxy A9 Pro and Galaxy Note 5.