Samsung Reveals Galaxy Alpha Metal-Framed Smartphone

Samsung has announced a new smartphone with a metal frame that is smaller and thinner than its flagship model. The South Korean company describes the Galaxy Alpha as representing a "new design approach". The firm has previously been criticised for the plastic feel of its handsets at a time when other firms have opted to use materials marketed as having a "premium" feel. Samsung Electronics saw a 20% year-on-year drop in its last quarter's profit. It blamed "slow global sales of smartphones". The company recently lost its status as China's bestselling smartphone-maker to Xiaomi, a local rival, according to the research group Canalys. Xiaomi's latest handset, the Mi 4, also features a metal-framed build. "This is a clear acknowledgement by Samsung that it needed to address some of the criticism that it faced on the Galaxy S5 and deliver a more premium feel," Ben Wood, chief of research at the telecoms consultancy CCS Insight, told the BBC. "To actually make these devices in the kind of volumes that Samsung needs to deliver them across all its markets is a real challenge, so it's quite remarkable that it's been able to turn this product around so quickly. "The challenge will be marketing it without cannibalising sales of the S5."