Samsung to showcase next Galaxy flagship on March 1

Samsung Electronics Co. sent out invitations Tuesday for what is expected to be an unveiling event of its next flagship smartphone, presumably the Galaxy S6, on March 1 in Spain.

The invitation from the South Korea-based top smartphone maker is for the "Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2015" in Barcelona and shows the silhouette of a curved line and the phrase, "What's Next." Samsung had showcased the previous Galaxy S5 in the Spanish city, the host of the annual Mobile World Congress, last year.

This year's event has added "Galaxy" to the name of event, a change some industry watchers say reflects the tech firm's attempt to solidify the name of its flagship brand. Previous invitations were for "Samsung Unpacked (Year) Episode 1."
  

The new Galaxy smartphone is expected to run on Samsung's own chips instead of U.S. chip giant Qualcomm Inc.'s latest application processor, the Snapdragon 810, said to have overheating problems.
  

Snippets from Samsung officials suggest that the company will change the body design to a metal frame.
  

Industry analysts view Samsung's next flagship as the determinant in whether the South Korean company will be able to maintain its market lead, overcoming the competition from both long-running and new rivals.
  

Chinese firms like Xiaomi have fast caught up to Samsung with their cost-competitive models while Apple Inc. reclaimed its status with its new, bigger-screen iPhone6 models in the premium segment. 
  

Latest data from market tracker Strategy Analytics said Samsung and Apple sold the same amount of smartphones in the fourth quarter last year, which would mean a staggering sales increase by the U.S. firm. SA's data also said Samsung had lost to Apple in China's smartphone market share in the fourth quarter, after giving up its No. 1 ranking to Xiaomi in the third quarter. 
  

This year's MWC will run from March 2 through 5. (Yonhap)