Samsung's latest flagships the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge have officially made the Iran entry.
The company hosted a launch event in Tehran's Milad Tower on Tuesday to introduce the two new smartphones to reporters.
Similar to the shades of the phones' advertisements, the venue was decorated mostly in white, black and blue. Oddly, however, the event hashtag #GalaxyS7Iran was nowhere to be seen; when I enquired about it, some of Samsung's promoters were shockingly clueless as to what a hashtag is.
Bumsuk Hong, regional president of Samsung electronics, first took the podium to explain that he learnt of local preferences through the past Samsung flagship launches in Iran.
"Iran is one of Samsung's most important markets. We have all come a long way and Samsung smartphones are the number one choice of Iranian users at this time," he declared.
Packages of Customer Services
Ali Jafariyeh, head of mobile business, said, "We see it our mission to change the rules of the game for customers by providing them with new experiences, the key being customer services."
Jafariyeh explained that for better services, the company is offering "VIP package" for customers that plan to buy the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.
The most important feature of the package is a screen replacement service for those who purchase the package before June 20.
The service will also include a pick-up and drop-off service by motorbike delivery, according to the representative.
Samsung like before will be teaming up with the country's second largest mobile phone operator, MTN-Irancell, to sell some of its packages.
The representative noted that the company may also develop a package that will enable customers to pay in installments, adding that "it is not entirely certain at this point".
Asked about sales forecasts, Jafariyeh said although the official launch event was held on Tuesday the phone had been available on the market a week in advance.
"The phone has been well-received by customers, because of improvements in the smartphones' ergonomic design," he said.
Specifications
After the marketing team completed their presentation, the tech details were highlighted.
The new phones are waterproof, meaning they can be dunked in water for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters.
Both phones pack Samsung’s Exynos 8890 octa-core processor and 4 GB of RAM.
As for the camera, megapixel-count has actually taken a step back from the 16 MP camera on the Galaxy S6; with the S7 at 13 MP and S7 Edge at 12 MP.
More advanced photographers can use pro mode and shoot RAW files. Accessories that can additionally be purchased to boost the cameras include wide and fish-eye lenses. The front-facing camera on the phones is the same 5 MP from the S6.
The screens are also "always on", constantly displaying the time and system notifications even when inactive, a technology originally developed by Nokia over 10 years ago.
The S7 is smaller than the S7 Edge. Whereas the Edge has a 5.5-inch screen, the S7 has a 5.1-inch panel. It features 1440 x 2560 pixels (577 PPI pixel density).
Both phones have micro SD slots that allow memory to be expanded to 200 GB and come in four colors, a feature missing on S6, which annoyed many fans last year.
Though no official announcement was made about the price, the phones are expected to be sold at 20-30 million rials ($570-850) in Iran, depending on features selected.
Reporters were eventually escorted to the "experience zone" where users could test the phones, as well a range of accessories like wireless chargers and power banks.
Also available for testing were a number of the company's virtual reality headsets known as Gear VR.
According to GSM Arena, Samsung seems to have had an exceptionally good first sales quarter this year. The Korean giant just published its earnings for the three months and shows consolidated sales of $43.3 billion, which is a notable year-on-year increase over the $40.7 million in Q1 2015.
As for consolidated operating profit, Samsung now expects a figure of $5.7 billion, which constitutes a 10.45% increase over last year. These numbers are not final, but it is definitely safe to say that the Galaxy S7 flagship duo will play a big part in the mix.
With 10 million units shipped in March alone, the Galaxy S7 has been a global success. Based on pre-orders, Samsung executives expect to sell more Galaxy S7 series units than previous models.
