Samsung Electronics is intensifying its rivalry with Apple with its new Galaxy S4 smartphone, which has a larger, sharper screen than its predecessor, the best-selling S III.
Samsung trumpeted the much-anticipated phone's arrival last night in New York.
The Galaxy S4, which crams a 5-inch screen into a body slightly smaller than the S III's, will go on sale in the US sometime between the end of April and the end of June.
Samsung plans to offer the Galaxy 4S in 155 countries, giving it a wider reach than Apple's iPhone 5.
The company did not say what the phone will cost, but it can be expected to start at $200 with a two-year contract in the US.
JK Shin, the executive in charge of Samsung's mobile communications division, promised the money would be well spent for a "life companion" that will "improve the way most people live every day."
That bold promise set the tone for the kind of flashy presentation associated with the showmanship of Apple, the company that Samsung has been trying to upstage.
Apple contends Samsung has been trying to do it by stealing its ideas - an allegation has triggered bitter courtroom battles around the world.
In the last two years, Samsung has emerged as Apple's main competitor in the high-end smartphone market. At the same time, it has sold enough inexpensive low-end phones to edge out Nokia as the world's largest maker of phones.
The Galaxy line has been Samsung's chief weapon in the smartphone fight, and it has succeeded in making it a recognisable brand while competitors like Taiwan's HTC and Korean rival LG have stumbled.
Samsung has sold 100 million Galaxy S phones since they first came out in 2010. While that is still well below the 268 million iPhones Apple has sold in the same period, Samsung's sales rate is catching up.
Research firm Strategy Analytics said the Galaxy S III overtook Apple's iPhone 4S as the world's best-selling smartphone for the first time in the third quarter of last year, as Apple fans were holding off for the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 took back the crown in the fourth quarter.
