Samsung plans thin phone to battle Motorola Razr

SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics is planning to launch at least one thin cell phone later this year to battle Motorola's Razr handset in international markets, a company executive said Wednesday.

"We plan to introduce a slim handset in overseas markets in the fourth quarter," said Daniel Chung, vice president of Samsung's mobile communications marketing team, during a meeting with reporters on the sidelines of the SEK exhibition in Seoul.

"We used to be known for our thinness," he said. "We want to show our capability again."

The new phone will follow a thin model recently announced by Samsung for the South Korean domestic market. The SCH-V740 was on show at SEK and will be available to consumers later this month.

It's almost identical in size to Motorola's Razr. Both phones are 98 millimeters long. The Samsung handset is 51 mm wide against Motorola's 53 mm, and the Samsung is 14.5 mm thick against Motorola's 13.9 mm. The Samsung handset weighs 98 grams, which is 3 grams heavier than the Razr.

In several other areas, the Samsung phone has higher specifications. Its main screen is QVGA resolution (240 pixels by 320 pixels), it has a 1.3 megapixel camera and 256MB of internal memory. Other specifications include an MP3 player, the ability to capture MPEG4 video, Bluetooth wireless, GPS (Global Positioning System), and PictBridge printing technologies. It will cost around 600,000 won ($595).

Motorola recently launched its Razr handset in the South Korean market. The handset maker credited the popularity of the model in part as helping it achieve a 48 percent increase in income and 10 percent rise in sales in the first quarter this year.

Chung also said Samsung plans to continue focusing on the mid to high-end market and won't be going after low-end consumers any time soon. He said Samsung's unit shipments so far this year to date, of 24 million phones in the first quarter and about the same in the second quarter, mean the company is likely to reach its 2005 shipment target of 100 million cell phones.