NEW YORK – Samsung Electronics Co. is making its biggest run yet at the iPhone's U.S. loyalists, unveiling the new Galaxy S4 a few blocks from Apple Inc.'s flagship store in New York and broadcasting the event live in Times Square.
The debut of Samsung's marquee smartphone, which will be Thursday at Radio City Music Hall, lets Samsung bring the fight directly to Apple's strongest market. The South Korean company is relying on an advertising blitz and cutting-edge features, potentially including a snazzier camera and eye-tracking capabilities, to generate the kind of buzz associated with Apple's products.
Samsung's challenge is proving it can innovate as effectively as its U.S. competitor. While Apple's iPhone pioneered the market for touch-screen phones in 2007, Samsung became the smartphone leader worldwide more than a year ago, according to IDC. Apple remains No. 1 in the U.S.
The phone will sport a 5-inch screen, slightly larger than the one on last year's S3. The U.S. version will use Qualcomm Inc.'s quad-core chip, giving the phone more processing power.
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