The Samsung Galaxy S4 could ship with different regional processors, according to rumours, while new photos leak and web benchmarks emerge
The hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 flagship has popped up in a number of online news sources, including a leaked photo, reports of multiple processor variants across regions and browser benchmarking tests showing it to be the fastest phone on the web.
Starting with the photo leak – it’s pretty blurry with plenty of camera wobble, but is important for a handful of reasons.
Firstly, it shows the handset in someone’s hand, so looks pretty legitimate. Second, it matches up with a similarly dark and hand-held photo leak from last week (above right), lending further authenticity.
Thirdly, both matching photos show a device with a distinctly squared-off and angular shape, which puts to rest rumours from earlier in the year that the Galaxy S4 would be very similar in design to the Galaxy S3.
What about that processor rumour? It’s all sounding a bit odd actually. According to the Taipei times, which cites analysts from JPMorgan, Samsung will launch the Galaxy S4 in the US with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor and integrated 4G LTE modem, while other regions will get the device with Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa eight-core chip.
Previously the Samsung Galaxy S3 shipped in the US with a Qualcomm chip, so it is not without precedent, but that was due to Samsung’s own LTE solutions not being ready and a lot of time has passed since then.
We don’t think the rumour is likely to be true. Samsung must have 4G LTE connectivity ready for the Exynos-based version because to launch it without 4G when so many competitor models have it would be suicidal. There aren't many other reasons than lack of 4G for Samsung to opt for Qualcomm's chipsets over its own.
Finally, the browser benchmarks. A device has been spotted in Browsermark 2.0 records marked as the GT-I9500, a codename believed to belong to the Galaxy S4.
The handset clocks up a score of 2710, higher than pretty much anything else recorded by the testing suite so far.
It outclasses the LG Optimus G’s score of 2555, the HTC One’s 2262, the Sony Xperia Z’s 1865, the Nexus 4’s 1794, the Nokia Lumia 920’s 1774 and the Samsung Galaxy S3’s 1247.
At time of writing the phone is sitting pretty at the top of the Browsermark ‘Powerboard’ ranking.
There’s not long to wait now until we can fully bask in the Galaxy S4’s expected glory, as Samsung has officially confirmed March 14 will see the handset launch in New York.
It’s expected to sport a 1.8GHz processor, a 13-megapixel camera and a 5-inch 440ppi display with a 1920x1080 pixel Full HD resolution.
We’ll be covering the event as it happens so stay tuned for all the details.
by via Know Your Mobile
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