Samsung to launch LTE-Advanced Galaxy S4

Qualcomm-powered LTE-Advance​d handset headed to Korea 'as early as this month'

Samsung is aiming to launch the first smartphone supporting the faster LTE-Advanced wireless data standard, company co-CEO JK Shin has revealed. Speaking to reporters at Samsung headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, Shin said the new, LTE-A-capable Galaxy S4 could go on sale as early as this month in Korea. Reuters reports that the new Galaxy S4 will use a Qualcomm chipset, as opposed to the Exynos 5 Octa used in the Galaxy S4 phones currently sold in Samsung's home country.
LTE-Advanced has the potential to deliver significantly faster 4G speeds than existing LTE networks, but it hasn't yet seen widespread implementation by carriers around the world. Wikipedia lists Russia's Yota Networks as the only commercial LTE-A network at present, currently marketed as supporting speeds of 300Mbps. Operators in most Western countries, including the U.S., are focused on growing their vanilla LTE networks, while UK operator EE has said it'll begin trialing some of the tech behind the new standard before the end of the year.
Shin says his company is in talks with several foreign carriers regarding the LTE-Advanced Galaxy S4. However with supporting networks expected to be few and far between, this new GS4 might end up being a niche variant for the foreseeable future.



from Android Central - Android Central by Alex Dobie