It appears that the “Galaxy S4 Plus” rumour that surfaced yesterday held more water than many expected. Samsung CEO JK Shin has revealed that his company are ready to announced its latest Galaxy S4 variant as early as this month in South Korea, and are in talks with several overseas carriers as well.
The main difference between the two Galaxy S4 devices is in the support for LTE-Advanced 4G, which is able to double the data transmission speeds of “standard” 4G speeds today – theoretical speed rates cap it at around 3Gbps down and 1.5Gbps upload speeds. According to The Verge, LTE-Advanced is also referred to as “true 4G”, as current 4G speeds aren’t up to par with the original requirements.
Reuters further adds that the new Galaxy S4 variant will solely be powered by Qualcomm chipsets, which further adds credence that it will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset.
Interestingly, very few carriers actually have infrastructure support for the new LTE-Advanced standard – even in the US, where only AT&T and Verizon have firm plans to roll them out. It remains to be seen exactly where – or even when – the new variant of the Galaxy S4 will make its way out of Korea.
