Samsung Galaxy S5 coming sooner than later, says report
A Korean publication says the next-generation Galaxy flagship running Android KitKat could launch shy of the S4's first birthday.
- Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The latest round of rumors has the presumed successor to Samsung's Galaxy S4, a more powerful Galaxy S5, sporting unicorn-esque specs, perhaps some new flexible materials, and craziest of all: launching as little as 10 months after the Galaxy S4 was introduced.
A Korean site reports that "industry sources" say production of the Galaxy S5 could begin in January, with Samsung's next flagship phone shipping with Android KitKat and alongside a revamped Galaxy Gear 2 watch as early as February or March. That would be a few months ahead of many early-adopting Galaxy S4 owners' one-year anniversaries with their devices.
While this sounds like wishful thinking on the part of some overzealous reporter and a who-knows-how-well-informed supply chain source, it's also not a crazy plan for the likes of Samsung. The Korean monolith has the ability to make just about anything on a massive scale as quickly as it likes and likely has no qualms with cannibalizing sales of its zillions of other smartphone models, including the Galaxy S4.
But more importantly, what kind of unicorn is Samsung's S5 team designing this time around?
The same report claims the phone could be available in a plastic case or a more premium model with a metal body, and will come loaded with some serious digital beef -- a 64-bit processor, 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel camera and a huge 4,000-mAh battery to power a 5-inch flexible display that could jam as many as 560 pixels into each inch of screen real estate.
Samsung had no immediate response to a request for comment, but certainly many Galaxy S4 owners won't be as speechless when the flagship phone they proudly brought home this year is eclipsed in less than the time it takes us all to make a single trip around the sun.
What do you think? Is it too soon for a new Samsung flagship or never soon enough? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @crave and @ericcmack.