Half Samsung phones to be touch

Samsung will make one of the largest pushes into touchscreen phones of any one company, according to a note from Shinhan Investment. The Korean company should step up its shipments of the devices from an estimated 57 million this year to at least 100 million in 2010. About 45 percent of the company's entire lineup that year will be based on touch based on the predictions.

The analysts also believe Samsung will change the mix of those touchscreen phones it does ship. About 65 percent of the phones would use capacitive touchscreens, leaving old resistive screens as the minority. It indirectly supports claims that Samsung will downplay Windows Mobile as the Microsoft OS won't get support for capacitive touch until the second half of 2010, leaving Android, Symbian and possibly bada to carry the feature.

Switching away from traditional number pad and QWERTY phones may be important for Samsung, as it has near-flat smartphone share and has only made a small improvement to its overall share in its most recent quarter. Most of its advanced devices this year have been Windows Mobile devices with just a few Symbian devices and its first two Android phones.

By comparison, Apple's exclusive focus on touchscreens has netted it just a fraction of what Samsung is estimated to ship even this year, but it focuses exclusively on smartphones and doesn't have as wide an international reach.

By Electronista Staff

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