Smartphone boom to continue with new lineup this month


One out of every two people in Korea with handsets is a smartphone owner, even though the gadgets were only introduced in November 2009.

According to the telecom industry, 26.72 million out of 52.55 million people used a smartphone as of May 11, accounting for more than half of mobile service subscribers here.

The smartphone boom hit the nation with the introduction of Apple’s iPhone in November 2009 when the figure for smartphone users amounted to just 470,000. The figure surpassed the 10 million mark last March and reached 20 million in October.
Currently, SK Telecom has the largest number of smartphone service subscribers with 13.3 million people, followed by KT with 8.8 million and LG Uplus at 4.62 million.

“The wide popularity of smartphones has transformed not only our daily lives but also society in general,” said a high-ranking official at the Korea Communications Commission. “It adds innovation to companies’ duties as well as creating new markets.”

The figure for smartphone owners is likely to climb as major handset makers get ready to launch their flagship smartphones in the local market this month.

Pantech is the first firm to roll out its latest Vega Racer 2, equipped with Qualcomm’s one-chip solution ― Snapdragon S4 processor ― boasting on enhanced battery life.

The new Vega also reacts to voice commands, as well as motion, when making a phone call, sending a text message and searching for phone numbers. Photos could also be taken by saying certain words like “cheese” and “smile.”

LG Electronics is also planning to release its upgraded flagship smartphone Optimus LTE 2 here later this week.

Running on fourth-generation network technology, the 4.7-inch gadget is also equipped with Qualcomm’s one-chip solution, which integrates the telecommunications chip and mobile application processor, and is powered by the latest Android mobile platform.

The handset is said to have 40 percent more battery life than the previous model, while also featuring the “quick memo” function and “time machine” feature that takes up to five photos in a second.

On a related front, the company said Monday that it sold more than 1 million units for its Optimus LTE, which was put on sale last October. It is the first time for an LG smartphone to hit the 1 million mark.

“We’re selling up to an average of 3,000 of the flagship handset per day even in this month and this indicates that the increased level of trust on LG’s LTE products have contributed to the sales,” said an LG official.

In the meantime, global top smartphone maker Samsung Electronics is also planning to launch its new 4.8-inch Galaxy S3 in the U.K. on May 29 and later expand sales into other countries, including Korea.

The new handset showcases the “smart stay” function that enables the phone to track the person’s eyes and not turn off while it is being looked at, along with the “smart alert” feature tells the user what has happened since the handset was last looked at in order of importance.

Operating on Google’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich platform, the device will be offered in pebble blue or marble white.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)