Samsung partners with headphones maker Jays, looks to rival HTC’s Beats?

South Korean smartphone giant Samsung today announced that it has signed a partnership with Swedish headphone maker Jays to market the audio specialist’s award-winning v-JAYS equipment alongside Samsung’s smartphone devices in South Korea throughout February.

With Samsung heading to Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next month, the company will be pushing new smartphone devices, hoping to leverage new partnerships to further boost the appeal of its mobile handsets.

The smartphone market has already seen HTC acquire a majority stake in Dr Dre’s Beats brand and Nokia partner with Monster.

Here’s how Jays markets its v-JAYS headphones:

The robust and collapsible v-JAYS weigh in at a mere 59 grams (2.08 oz) making them one of the lightest headphones in their class. The result is portable, high-performance sound at a mid price point.

Samsung says that the collaboration will see v-JAYs headphones marketed together with selected smartphone devices across the company’s 691 stores and other retailers in Korea during February.

It appears that Samsung is testing the water with its partnership, seeing if a headphones deal with Jays will increase demand of its devices in its home country. We could see the smartphone maker decide to formally enter the headphone market via its partner worldwide should it see some positive results.