The tech community is watching with bated breath to see what the Galaxy S5 will look like. We might not have to wait too much longer though, as Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) has invited the media to launch event titled Unpacked 5 Episode 1. That event will be held at the Mobile World Congress on Feb. 24, and it is widely expected that the Galaxy S5 will be unveiled then.
Guessing Galaxy S5 launch date
As Gotta Be Mobile notes, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) was once pretty secretive about launch dates for its gadgets even on the day of its big unveiling. However, the last time around, we did hear specific dates for the company’s major handsets, which suggests we might hear dates this time around too. Of course Samsung still left the final release dates to each U.S. carrier to decide, but it did provide a first-available date, and after that date, carriers in the U.S. could launch whenever they were ready to do so.
Some of the world’s carriers could put up preorder pages for the Galaxy S5 before it is available. Gotta Be Mobile believes carriers in the U.S. will follow the lead of German carrier O2 in creating a sign-up page on their websites allowing customers to enter their email addresses and learn the official launch date for the Galaxy S5.
In terms of how the rollout will go at U.S. carriers, you can pretty much expect the major carriers to launch the handset first and then smaller carriers within the following weeks. Gotta Be Mobile believes AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) will be the first U.S. carrier to release it because of its ties with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930).
Galaxy Gear expected to pair with Galaxy S5
The site also suggests that a carrier will get to offer “some kind of exclusive” on the Galaxy S5. It suggests an exclusive color or storage variants. An early release date might not be out of the question either.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) suggested recently that it would already be refreshing its Galaxy Gear smart watch alongside the Galaxy S5. Of course we don’t know what kinds of new features or specs the new watch will offer, although a new design may be in the cards. Many are probably hoping for a less bulky model, which might be possible if Samsung uses a flexible OLED display and flexible battery technology. This is purely speculation, however.
