The former is cheaper and has already landed on shelves

Mar 20, 2014 09:05 GMT  ·  By

Starting yesterday, mobile phone users in Taiwan can purchase a new smartphone from LG Electronics, in the form of LG G Pro 2, which was released in the country the same day that Samsung announced plans to bring the new Galaxy S5 there as well.

Of course, Samsung’s flagship smartphone will be available in Taiwan only after April 11, since that is the day when it begins rolling out globally, though enthusiasts will certainly wait for its release before buying a new device.

Both smartphones arrive on the market with screens larger than 5 inches, which should make them highly appealing for users there.

As FocusTaiwan notes, a recent report from IDC has already unveiled that customers in Taiwan are highly interested in 5-inch or larger smartphones, as these devices accounted for around 42 percent of sales in the fourth quarter of 2013.

What remains to be seen, however, is which of the two will prove more successful there, since there are differences in size, specs, and pricing between them.

LG’s G Pro 2 was launched with a 5.9-inch full HD touchscreen display, a 2.26GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor inside, and 2GB of RAM. The phone also packs a 13-megapixel camera on the back.

LG made the handset available in Taiwan with a price tag of NT$20,900 ($684/€594) attached to it for the 16GB model, while pricing the 32GB flavor at NT$21,900 ($717/€518).

The phone maker is determined to sell over 100,000 G Pro 2 devices in this country before the end of the year, while aiming to reach overall sales of 450,000 smartphones this year, up from 300,000 in 2013.

Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung’s Galaxy S5 smartphone, on the other hand, was unveiled in the country priced at NT$22,900 ($750/€542) for the 16GB version and at NT$23,900 ($783/€565) for the 32GB variant. As mentioned above, the phone will be released only next month.

The device was announced with a 5.1-inch full HD screen, a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor inside, and 2GB of RAM. It will hit shelves with a 16-megapixel camera on the back, capable of recording videos at 4K resolution.

Samsung did not comment on its sales target for Taiwan, but Moon Sung-hyun, managing director of Samsung Taiwan, did say that the Galaxy S series had already proved highly popular all around the world.

"The Samsung Galaxy S5 is the perfect combination of all great practical features and allows you to have a smarter and more convenient mobile life," he also commented.

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LG G Pro 2
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