Samsung expects its new Galaxy S6 to be a massive hit

Photograph by Simon Dawson — Bloomberg via Getty Images

Samsung said Thursday that it’s expecting to ship record numbers of its new Galaxy S6 flagship smartphone this year, Reuters reports, helping to boost the South Korean company’s earnings in 2015.

The company also expects the standard S6 model to outsell the more expensive S6 Edge, which features a curved display that runs along the device’s outer edges. The S6 Edge’s curved screen poses a manufacturing challenge, Reuters notes:

Samsung expects the flat screen S6 to sell more than the higher-margin S6 edge – priced about $120 more in South Korea – but mobile chief J.K. Shin said at a media event on Thursday the firm won’t be able to keep up with demand for the latter model in the near term because the curved screens are harder to manufacture.

Shin also said that the electronics maker is going to produce “a variety of wearable devices” in the future, although he didn’t give specifics.

Earlier this week, Samsung projected that it made $5.4 billion in operating profit in the first three months of the year, a 30% drop year-over-year. Meanwhile, Samsung’s chief smartphone competitor, Apple, said it sold a record 74.5 million iPhones in the fourth quarter thanks to strong sales over the holiday season.