Battle of the five-megapixels

It looks like it will be the battle of the fourth quarter. Samsung and Sony Ericsson will go head-to-head in the coming months as both release five-megapixel handsets in a fight to claim their place as UK manufacturer with market share second only to Nokia.

Though Samsung's G600 is set for a head start, it is up against Sony Ericsson's K850i in what could be a like-for-like decision for consumers and salespeople. Both phones will have widespread retail distribution.

Samsung UK director Mark Mitchinson said he was attempting to steal the march on Sony Ericsson and take 25% market share this year. Retailers say the battle between the G600 and K850i symbolises the broader tussle between the two manufacturers: style versus function.

Both manufacturers are popular among operators for high ARPU and low returns. Samsung's more fashionable customers are known to be users of voice, while Sony Ericsson users are more likely to use their phones for internet services.

The G600 could steal the limelight as the more stylish, slimmer handset. Sony Ericsson's more boxy offering, retailers argue, has the better camera. Sony Ericsson's trump card is that the K850i is HSDPA, while the G600 relies on GPS. The K850i also has a Xenon flash and a Photo Fix application that sharpens pictures, as well as new features to store and share pictures, including a new photo album and an iTunes-style media manager.

Samsung has put a £3m marketing campaign behind the G600 and expects one million of its loyal customers to snap one up by March 2008. It has received UK orders for over half a million units.

What the dealers sayDealers are divided as to which handset will be more successful, with both winning points for their different qualities.

Kris Solanki from Walk and Talk Mobile suggested the K850i would be the more popular. 'Sony Ericsson will do better because the picture quality on its phones is brilliant. Even when you compare a K810i [which has 3.2 megapixels] to the Nokia N95 [with five megapixels], it's a sharper picture.' He added that the manufacturer's name was more widely recognised.Other dealers thought the handsets would appeal to different audiences. Mehran Mehmood of Fonetec said: 'The Sony Ericsson followers will go with Sony, but sleek and feminine people will go for Samsung. I think they will both do very, very well. Both have their loyal fans.

Dealers saw both new devices as direct competition to the N95, which has lead the way in megapixels on the UK market. Samsung claims the N95 is a 'very different product' to the G600.

Samsung launched a ten-megapixel handset in Korea in October last year called the B600. Hazel Pearson from Transcom said: 'Why didn't it bring it out here and just blow everyone out of the water? If you've got it, flaunt it.'

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