The latest model, called the SCH-S250, has a charge-coupled device camera and high-sensitivity flash which allow users to take high-quality pictures. It can also function as a camcorder.

Built-in cameras are considered basic features in mobile phones but most camera phones have picture resolutions of less than one megapixel, meaning the pictures can sometimes be poor quality even if the technology is improving all the time.

"Our development of a five-megapixel camera phone will boost the competitiveness of the South Korean mobile phone industry," Samsung president Lee Ki-Tae said in a statement.

"At the same time, I would like to see our technological advances contribute to the growth of the global mobile phone industry," he said.

Samsung said it has cooperated with Japan-based Asahi Pentax to develop a camera module customized for the mobile phone.

The phone's 92MB onboard memory can store up to 100 minutes of video while 32MB auxiliary memory is included as a standard feature.

Shutter speed is as fast as 1/1,000th of a second and permits the user to photograph landscapes as well as subjects as close as 10 centimeters.

Samsung, the world's third-largest handset maker, said the new phone would help the company maintain its leadership in the high-end of the market.

The SCH-S250 phone also features an MP3 player, a TV function and mobile banking. Its price will be announced next week.

"It will help us consolidate our brand as a leader in the worldwide camera phone market," Cho Byung-Deok, head of Samsung' development team, told reporters.

South Korea's top mobile carrier, SK Telecom, said it would introduce 10-megapixel camera phones produced by Samsung by the end of this year.

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