Samsung is readying an LTE-Advanced version of its Galaxy S 4 smartphone, which could debut in South Korea as early as this month, according to a report from Reuters.
Samsung co-CEO JK Shin told the news agency that his company will be the first “with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone.”
LTE-Advanced is basically an upgrade from 4G LTE. According to Reuters, a three-minute download over 4G would only take about one minute on 4G-Advanced.
Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Though U.S. carriers are currently working on their 4G LTE rollouts, they are also eyeing the next big thing.
At the CTIA trade show last year, Sprint and T-Mobilesaid they are exploring LTE-Advanced. At CTIA this year, meanwhile, Nvidia showed off a prototype LTE-Advanced smartphone running downloads at 150 megabits per second, 10 times as fast as many home cable connections.
When LTE-Advanced reaches the U.S. depends on the carriers’ rollout schedule. But conceivably, Samsung – or another phone maker – could release an LTE-Advanced smartphone, which would simply tap into 4G LTE until LTE-Advanced was available.
Samsung, meanwhile, has released a number of new Galaxy S4 versions in recent weeks – from the 4.3-inch “Mini” GS4 to the rugged, Galaxy S4 Active and the Galaxy S 4 Zoom, which basically combines the GS4 Mini and the Samsung Galaxy Camera $365.00 at Amazon.
For more, see PCMag’s review of the Galaxy S 4 and the Samsung Galaxy Camera.
Source: pcmag.com
