Samsung bets big on April 10 launch of Galaxy S6, S6 Edge

Sprint, AT&T and other carriers have lined up with a wide range of pricing options for consumers. Samsung has a lot riding on getting off to a good start.

Samsung hopes to reverse its fortunes with a radically redesigned flagship smartphone.

The company on Thursday said that its Galaxy S6 smartphone, alongside its curvy sibling, the Galaxy S6 Edge, will go on preorder Friday and then become available for purchase at carrier and retail stores on April 10 -- the same day that HTC's One M9 goes on sale and that Apple begins taking preorders for its Apple Watch.

The US will get the black, white and gold variants of the smartphones.Samsung's latest smartphones incorporate aluminum and glass, higher-quality materials that set them apart from previous Samsung phones, which largely used a plastic shell. But the change did come with sacrifices -- the company ditched the microSD slot for expandable memory, as well as the removable battery.

A lot is riding on Samsung's Galaxy S6 line. The company saw its smartphone market share and profits slide last year after the tepid reaction to its predecessor flagship product, the Galaxy S5. But with a new design and a focus on premium materials, Samsung hopes to regain some of its swagger and stay atop the smartphone mountain.

"The Galaxy S6 represents a new era of design for us," Hong Yeo, the senior designer in charge of Samsung's new devices, said in an interview at the time of the phones' unveiling earlier this month.