Samsung's new Galaxy Wide phone targets budget-minded buyers - CNET

Samsung has cooked up a new smartphone, at least for South Korean consumers.

The Galaxy Wide smartphone, unveiled Tuesday, is similar to Samsung's Galaxy On7 with such specs as a 5.5-inch, 1,280x720-pixel display, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor and a 13-megapixel rear camera. In many respects, the Galaxy Wide appears to be a rebranded version of Samsung's On7, according to blog site Sammobile. There are differences, though.

The Galaxy Wide features 2 gigabytes of memory and 16GB of expandable storage, compared with On7's 1.5GB GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. The On7 is a budget-conscious phone sold in China and India, while the Galaxy Wide will be released in Samsung's home base of South Korea. Samsung has not released details about other potential markets. The On7 costs 244,491 won ($210), while the Galaxy Wide is slightly pricier at 319,000 won ($276).

Over the past couple of years, Samsung has been hit by weaker smartphone sales. Strong demand for its latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S7, has helped revive business, but the company still depends on low-cost phones to generate sales in markets such as China and India.