By Claire Reilly

After showing off a new line-up of home appliances to an international audience at its Regional Forum in Jakarta, Samsung has announced the first new products of the range that will make their way to Australia in the coming months.

The brand has confirmed four “key model” releases for the Australian market including a four door French door refrigerator, a large-format convection microwave, a compact 7-kilogram washing machine, and the “next evolution” of the NaviBot range, the Navibot CornerClean.

Speaking at the launch last night, Samsung’s head of home appliances Mike Lilly said the products represented a strong investment in the local market on the part of Samsung.

“With the R&D [research and development] investment that we’re making, we’re trying to bring new, more innovative, better featured and better designed products into the market,” said Lilly.

With as much as one quarter of Samsung’s staff dedicated to research and development, the range includes features designed specifically for the Australian market, designed to bring a point of difference to the retail floor.

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The flagship of the new range is the T9000 Four Door French Door Refrigerator which Lilly billed as the “largest on the market”, with a capacity of 929 litres. The lower right door of the refrigerator also conceals a convertible compartment which can be adjusted to freeze or chill, depending on needs.

Also on the bigger end of the spectrum is the 45 Litre Large Capacity Convection Microwave, which is Lilly said was also the largest on the market, and features Smart Sensors to detect humidity and ensure perfect cooking time and a Ceramic Enamel interior, which is “highly scratch resistant”, easy to clean and resistant to bacteria. The interior itself also comes with a five-year warranty.

While the brand is going large in some areas, there was also a focus on smaller footprint appliances, with Lilly pushing the benefits of Samsung’s Compact 7-kilogram Front Load Washing Machine. Samsung has reduced the depth of the machine by 25 per cent without compromising on capacity, as well as adding a brushless digital inverter motor for quiet operation. According to Lilly, retailers selling the machine should really push these benefits for consumers living in apartments — a smaller footprint for small laundries and a quiet motor to make for happy neighbours.

Finally, Samsung last night announced the availability of the NaviBot CornerClean robot vacuum model, which updates the feature set on previous NaviBot models with better mapping technology and small pop-out brushes that remove dust from hard-to-reach corners.

The full range is starting to roll out now, with Samsung providing the below pricing:
-T9000 Four Door French Door Refrigerator: RRP $4,999, available August.
-45 Litre Large Capacity Convection Microwave: RRP $899, available now.
-Compact 7kg Front Load Washing Machine: RRP $1,099, available mid-April (exclusive to Harvey Norman)
-NaviBot CornerClean: RRP $1,099, available April 2013.

The T9000 Four Door French Door Refrigerator with convertible lower right section.

The 45 Litre Large Capacity Convection Microwave.

Samsung's new washing machine has a footprint 25 per cent smaller than other machines with the same capacity.

 

The NaviBot CornerClean features pop-out brushes for getting dirt out of corners.