Samsung's metallic Galaxy Alpha is now available to buy (in select markets)

Right on time, Samsung today started selling the Galaxy Alpha, which thus becomes the company’s first global Galaxy smartphone to feature a body that’s partially made out of metal.

For now, the Alpha is available to buy only in a few countries - like the UK and Russia - but customers in other markets should be able to get it pretty soon, too. As you may know, the Galaxy Alpha is far from being affordable. It costs £549.00 in the UK - that’s only £30 less than the Galaxy S5.

The Galaxy Alpha is certainly Samsung’s best weapon (if we may say so) against Apple’s 4.7-inch iPhone 6 - which can be pre-ordered starting today, ahead of its September 19 launch. The Alpha is slightly smaller and thinner than the iPhone 6 (6.7mm vs. 6.9mm), while offering a similarly-sized 4.7-inch display with 720 x 1280 pixels. Other features include a 12 MP rear camera, fingerprint scanner, heart rate monitor, octa-core Exynos 5 5430 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory, and a 1860 mAh battery. You can find out much more about the handset by checking out our Samsung Galaxy Alpha hands-on.

Earlier this week, Samsung officially confirmed that it would launch the Galaxy Alpha in Canada (starting September 26). It has yet to say anything about a US release, though we heard that the handset would be available via both AT&T and T-Mobile. We’ll let you know when we hear more on this.


source: Samsung UK via Twitter