Samsung is looking to cover all the bases of the smartphone market through its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone. They’ve made a miniature version. They’ve made a durable version. And now, they’re making a faster version. A new version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be outfitted with 4G LTE-Advanced technology to take downloading speeds to a whole new level.
A report by Reuters this morning indicates that Samsung CEO J.K. Shin “said the phone would be sold in South Korea as early as this month” but failed to mention a U.S. release.
LTE-Advanced is essentially the next-generation of 4G but offers data transmission at up to twice the normal 4G speed. More specifically, according to VentureBeat, LTE-Advanced will potentially offer speeds up to 300 megabits per second (three times faster than LTE’s theoretical bandwidth), so you can be sure that carriers will want to market the heck out of that upgrade. Samsung claims its LTE-A Galaxy S4 will be about twice as fast as the current LTE models. If Reuters is correct, a 3-minute video download on conventional smartphones will only take 1 minute on the new GS4.
Though Samsung is still out-selling perpetual rival Apple and is dominating the smartphone market, the high-end smartphone market is becoming increasingly saturated with the South Korean electronics manufacturer having its sales forecasts slashed by 30% by analysts.
Perhaps in a move to counteract this saturation, Apple has been rumored for months to be working on a low-cost iPhone version with subsequent low-end technology under the hood.
As of now there’s been no mention about a U.S. release or a price tag, though Samsung will surely be rolling out its fast phone in the Western hemisphere at some point in the near future. Apple is expected to release its unofficially named iPhone 5S, the next-generation flagship smartphone, and the low-cost iPhone this fall. Samsung will likely eye a similar launch date if it wants to keep competing and undercutting the competition.
Stay tuned to BostInno for the latest updates on Samsung and its bevy of Galaxy branded devices.
