If you thought Samsung would let up with its relentless assault of Galaxy S4 variations then unfortunately you were mistaken. Samsung CEO J K Shin recently confirmed the firm’s plans to launch the world’s first smartphone with LTE-Advanced capabilities and it will be a variant of the S4.
Speaking with Reuters recently, Shin told of a phone in the works at Samsung which will be the first widely available device with LTE Advanced technology, which is like 4G but supercharged.
LTE Advanced is the next step up from LTE (or 4G), a technology which is currently becoming widespread around the world, with all major UK networks ready to offer 4G services before the end of this year. Whereas 4G LTE can offer up to 300Mbps download and 75Mbps up, LTE Advanced blows it away with speeds of up to 1Gbps down and 500Mbps up.
“As operators seek to provide more data-centric mobile services, I think this will become mainstream 4G technology globally in the coming years,” Shin said when speaking of the cutting edge tech.
Whilst it’s all well and good being the first to embrace a newer, better technology, there’s currently only one network in the world able to broadcast LTE Advanced: Yota, a Russian carrier. We’re unlikely to see the Galaxy S4 with LTE Advanced here in the UK as we’re way behind the curve when it comes to 4G, but countries like Russia, China and the US, who have all been using 4G LTE for a few years now, most likely will.
The Galaxy S4’s meaty quad-core processor won’t be able to cope with LTE Advanced and so Samsung will need to utilise a new chipset from Qualcomm, rather than its own-made gear. With this in mind, coupled with the limitations in terms of networks able to support the technology, we aren’t expecting to see this phone surface until the end of the year at least.