Pitching itself against some of the leading smartphone players in the market, Samsung has launched its much talked about Galaxy S4 at a price of Rs 41,500. Banking on its innovative imaging features and ‘gesture control’ technology, Galaxy S4 is competitively priced compared to other players in the high-end spectrum of the smart phone industry which includes Blackberry Z10, HTC One, iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 920 and Sony Xperia Z.

Following the product unveiling in New York, Samsung has been taking the fourth generation of its Galaxy range of smartphones on a World Tour to major global cities and New Delhi is one of them. The smartphone went on sale on Saturday and will be available at Samsung premium brand stores in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai, and pan India thereafter.

While it remains to be seen whether Galaxy S4 manages to live up to the hype surrounding its launch and replicate the success of the previous models, it does come packed with innovative imaging features and ‘gesture control’ technology. One of the prime competitors of Galaxy S4, the HTC One is priced at Rs 42,990 while the iPhone 5 is currently priced at Rs 45,500.

The phone supports a five-inch HD super AMOLED touchscreen, a 13 megapixel real camera and 2 megapixel front camera and supports 3G networks. With new imaging features like ‘Dual Camera’ and ‘Dual Video Call’, users can click pictures and make video calls using both the front and real cameras simultaneously. Some of the ‘gesture control’ features include ‘Air Gesture’ which allows users to change music with a wave of the hand, ‘Air View’ which lets users hover with their fingers to preview the content of an email or a photograph, and ‘Smart Pause’ with which one can pause a video by just looking away from the phone.

“The Galaxy S4 is a device that enables us to do more; it’s a companion that helps us experience life to the fullest and makes our life simpler and richer. That’s the promise of the Samsung Galaxy S4,” said Vineet Taneja, Country Head – Samsung Mobile and Digital Imaging.

Samsung is pursuing an aggressive marketing strategy to fuel greater engagement and create a buzz around the smartphone. The phone was introduced in the Delhi market on Saturday with much fanfare with the first 50 owners of the Galaxy S4 being handed over the device by the celebrity couple Lara Dutta and Mahesh Bhupathi in the brand’s store in an upscale mall in the city. In this BTL activation, the customers buying the phone from the store in the first four hours (12 noon to 4:00 pm) were given free accessories.

Speaking about the marketing strategy that has been designed for Galaxy S4 and how different it is from the previous launches from the Galaxy stable, Taneja says that the brand is focussing heavily on its stores and improving user’s retail experience. While he doesn’t share the marketing budget, he does add that approximately 30 to 40 per cent of the budget will be used for its retail strategy and improving the look and feel of 7000 to 8000 stores in various parts of the country.