Samsung Galaxy S5 rumors have caught the attention of analysts and market watchers worldwide. According to the newly surfaced reports the Samsung Galaxy S5 will be launched alongside the metal encased Samsung Galaxy F.
The reports suggested that a sample of Samsung Galaxy F was designed in Europe, and has now been ported to the new Samsung facility in Vietnam. The anticipations are high that the Galaxy S5 would be launched first followed by the Galaxy F. In the previous reports, it was revealed that the Galaxy F would be the first in the series of “super premium” line of smartphones.
There have been no details about the features and specifications of the new phone except for the metal encasing. However, some of the reports claim that the Galaxy S5 would have a 1080p Full HD display while the Galaxy F will ramp the resolution up to QHD 2K 2,560 x 1,600p. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was expected to have full metallic body, but the current reports suggest that the Galaxy F would be the phone with the metal body.
The Galaxy F, on the other hand, is expected to bear the model name SM-G900F, and according to the reports the mass production of the model has started. It is not clear whether Samsung Galaxy S5 or Galaxy F would be launched in a metal body.
Galaxy S5 may come in MWC
It was also in the news that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) would apparently launch two new variants of Galaxy S5, one of which would be a metal chassis with flexible OLED, and another version would come with the usual plastic body like its predecessors. The phone is expected to launch in Mobile World Congress (MWC) on February 24 in Barcelona, which is not very far off. However, in the next week CES 2014 will start where Samsung would probably give tidbits about its new series of smartphones or maybe new devices like the Galaxy Gear 2.
In August, last year the South Korean electronic major filed a design patent with USPTO. At that time, speculations were made that the design will be seen in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but nothing of that sort happened. Further, in December Korean OEM reapplied for the design patent using the same images. It is possible that the designs might be of the Samsung Galaxy S5 or Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Within the sketch, there is no physical button suggesting the device would be different from its predecessors.
Bigger display, but flexible display might not be possible
The metal frame that is expected to encase the Samsung Galaxy S5 or Galaxy F is 143.83mm in length and 72.27mm in width, compared to the 136.6mm long and 69.8mm wide in Galaxy S4. The magnitude indicates that the screen would be larger than 5 inches. Also, the Galaxy S5 would have 2K display resolution and 560ppi pixel density, the highest for any smartphone.
Samsung was expected to launch a curved display phone similar to the LG G Flex and Galaxy Round. However, recent reports revealed that the Galaxy S5 would not have curved display due to supply issues.
According to the Korean Herald citing a Seoul based analyst, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) is facing issues in producing enough flexible display panels. The report said that Samsung is capable of producing 500,000 units per month, which is not enough, considering the historical trend which shows the popularity of Samsung devices. According to the analyst, Samsung may achieve the target of 1 million displays per month by the end of 2014, when a special Galaxy variant with a curved display might be released.
Seoul-based Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Kim Jong-hyun said that the current ability of Samsung to produce panels for the Galaxy S5 is not enough. Curved phones are expected to be launched late next year as a Galaxy variant than as a flagship model.
Powerful Galaxy S5 with better battery
AnTuTu located a Samsung device on the bench-marking system, which could be Samsung Galaxy S5 coded as SM-G900F. The device in the picture is powered by a Snapdragon 800 chipset with 3GB RAM, but the chipset is an updated 8974AC. The Krait 400 processor involved is clocked at 2.5GHZ, a boost from the standard 2.3GHz.
It cannot be said with surety if the phone in question is the Galaxy S5, but the device seems to be very powerful. The powerful device is under testing and could probably be the next flagship model. Also, the device revealed by AnTuTu was powered by 4.4 Kitkat with a powerful rear camera of 16 megapixels.
Testing the new phone also indicates that the phone might be ready for launch at some point in time in January or February. Recently, there were reports that Samsung has started mass production of the Galaxy S5 to be released in the first quarter of fiscal 2014.
According to GSM Arena, the phone of which the mass production is rumoured to begin is powered by a 64-bit CPU, which could the first iteration of Samsung’s Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) Exynos big.
The Galaxy S5 is expected to be equipped with 4000mAh battery cell to run for a longer time. The battery power is more than the Note 3’s 3200mAhh setup. Samsung is also expected to fix an irremovable battery, which might not be acceptable to some of the Samsung loyal.
Other expected features
The Galaxy S5 would apparently be powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor with 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 330 GPU. Additionally, the phone will be equipped with Android 4.4 KitKat and feature a 16-megapixel camera in the rear, with a secondary 2-megapixel option in the front. The specs sheet should also include 32GB of internal storage as standard.
Previously, it was expected that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) would stick to a 20 megapixel rear camera, but the recent reports have suggested that the company will go with a 16 megapixel camera.
Samsung may stick to its policy of keeping different chips for different regions in the next series of devices as well, as Qualcomm’s next generation 805 series was apparently said to power the upcoming phones.
As of now, none of the features and specifications has received an official seal, but it is widely believed that the much-hyped device would have some very attractive features; attractive enough to challenge the next-gen iPhone from Apple.
