Samsung Galaxy S III variant for Korea may be the world's first quad-core LTE smartphone

posted by Nick T. / Jun 25, 2012, 6:48 AM

Samsung Galaxy S III variant for Korea may be the world's first quad-core LTE smartphone

If you live somewhere in Europe and want to get a Samsung Galaxy S III, the model that you will be offered at a carrier's retail store will have a quad-core Exynos processor, but no LTE. Of course, you don't really need that connectivity feature since it has yet to be widely adopted by carriers across the continent. On the other hand, LTE-enabled Galaxy S III models are available on the U.S. market, yet they come with a dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip instead of Samsung's quad-core silicon.

It looks like it will be up to the Korean Galaxy S III variant to combine the best of both worlds. We say that because several independent sources report of a quad-core LTE Samsung Galaxy S III model that is to be released in its homeland next month. In fact, that device is expected to become the world's very first quad-core LTE smartphone, and if that is not impressive enough, 2GB of RAM will be present under its hood for seamless multitasking.

This hardware configuration, however, comes at a cost. You see, the reason why U.S. Samsung Galaxy S III versions have a dual-core Snapdragon S4 inside them is because the chip comes with an integrated LTE radio. The result is improved power efficiency, and therefore, increased battery life. But the aforementioned Korean Galaxy S III version will come with two separate chips: a quad-core Exynos processor and an LTE radio, which will put an extra strain on the device's battery. Besides, the extra silicon is a possible explanation as to why the unit will be thicker by about half a millimeter.

But at the end of the day, is it really worth sacrificing battery life by cramming all that power-hungry hardware inside a smartphone? The quad-core Exynos processor is not necessarily faster than the dual-core S4, so in reality, there might not be that much of a difference when it comes to real-life performance. But you know, a cutting-edge specs sheet is what gets smartphone aficionados excited, which is why this quad-core LTE Galaxy S III is definitely going to get lots of attention at home.

source: Olleh (translated), Chosun (translated) via The Verge

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Display 4.8" 720 x 1280 pixels

Camera 8 MP / 1.9 MP front

Processor Samsung Exynos 4 Quad, Quad-core, 1400 MHz

Storage 32 GB + microSDXC

Battery 2100 mAh(11.60h 3G talk time)

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21 Comments

1. dickwyn

Posts: 621; Member since: May 07, 2012

why korea only ?

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 6:53 AM 3

2. Mitchel

Posts: 228; Member since: May 25, 2012

Because it's their beloved country.. They don't want LG to dominate there.. And some trivia here, they are the largest company on South Korea & their former CEO is the richest man on their country too.. lol

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 7:00 AM 6

3. Jericho unregistered

Korea Rulez!!!! LoL This article felt like sour grapes to me.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 7:12 AM 3

4. ph00ny

Posts: 1986; Member since: May 26, 2011

lol at Exynos quad core not being faster than dual core s4 Did you leave out the graphics performance? CPU performance to CPU, quad core A9 (tegra3 included) is much faster than dual core S4 but dual core S4 seems to making up for it in IO performance which could be contributed to either kernel tweak or architecture

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:18 AM 2

8. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

I/O is a junk meter at this point. Its a number thats easily fluffed and has been for a while.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:35 AM 0

5. Zumo911

Posts: 22; Member since: May 02, 2012

I hope Big Red is pushing the S3 back to get their hands on this version of the phone. That would be awesome.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:19 AM 0

18. Ubi2447

Posts: 131; Member since: Feb 14, 2012

Never gunna happen. Imagine that drama from people after the phone has already been pushed back and back and then had another version sold prior to this. People would be rioting that they got a dual core but the guys a week later got a quad. It would fuel peoples notion that Verizon is money grubbing and they would say "Oh here we go again. It's the Razr all over again... 'The Samsung Galaxy S3 Maxx!' blaw blaw" The best thing to hope for at this point is for Samsung to put it in the US variant of the Galaxy Note 2 and that Verizon will get it. It's only a few months away so we'll wait and see.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 12:22 PM 0

6. nnaatthhaannx2

Posts: 820; Member since: Oct 19, 2011

So.... I'm a little puzzled here. Why doesn't a quad core processor work on US Lte service? What exactlly is the problem that causes this?

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:32 AM 0

11. TylerGrunter

Posts: 1544; Member since: Feb 16, 2012

It's not the quad core that is not working. LTE radios in US are different than in Korea or Europe. So in order to make it work in the US you need to add a second chip for LTE, which in order causes a lower battery life (as you need two different chips, one for CPU and one for radio). In order to avoid that they normally use the Qualcomm ones that have the CPU and the LTE (US) radios integrated and use a lot less battery. Apart from that some of those LTE radios chips are built in 45 nm and not precisely efficient, which has caused that the first LTE models in the US were battery hoggers. They are trying to avoid the same mistake. But saying that the S4 performs as the Exynos Quad, well... repeating a lie as it were a Mantra doesn't make it more true. Exynos Quad is around 30 to 40% better performer both in CPU and GPU.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:50 AM 1

13. nnaatthhaannx2

Posts: 820; Member since: Oct 19, 2011

Okey dokie. Thanks man. You get cookie.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 9:33 AM 0

19. Ubi2447

Posts: 131; Member since: Feb 14, 2012

It's also important to note that a Quad core LTE chip is not very high on most companies's priority list (well, maybe higher now than a year ago due to demand) because 2 of the biggest markets for smartphones is the EU and Asia, which doesn't have nearly as wide of LTE coverage and therefore very little demand for a LTE chip. LTE is very new and often none existent in much these markets so there's not much point in devoting a bunch of research, time and money to build a new chip which will only be sold in a couple markets around the world. It makes sense to provide for the majority first. It's a smarter financial choice to build one or two chips that will make everyone (world wide) happy. I do look forward to seeing what becomes of these. Maybe we'll see this chip in the Galaxy Note 2.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 12:36 PM 0

7. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

not necessarily faster? Its 30%++ faster according to all the benchmarks with huuuge FPS differences during GPU testing.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:34 AM 1

9. Zumo911

Posts: 22; Member since: May 02, 2012

thing is you'll probably need a second battery on hand for that power here in the US

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:38 AM 0

10. mercorp

Posts: 1045; Member since: Jan 28, 2012

I would switch off LTE and go for 2g speeds by default if I buy this phone in order to save battery life.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 8:45 AM 0

12. bayusuputra

Posts: 963; Member since: Feb 12, 2012

give me a 5mm thicker SGS3 with quad core and LTE, coupled with extended battery.. That phone is already thin, half a cm wouldn't hurt so bad, especially with killer specs inside.. Really, why making phones more and more anorexic when you can go all out with few extra millimetres on the waist? Isn't modelling industry starting to move in that direction, too, giving the models a few extra pounds so that they wont look like a walking skeleton?

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 9:03 AM 1

14. teerex42

Posts: 221; Member since: Jun 14, 2012

Couldn't have said it better myself phonearena (The quad-core Exynos processor is not necessarily faster than the dual-core S4, so in reality, there might not be that much of a difference when it comes to real-life performance) You people need to get off this 30 40% faster sh*t...again, verizon which I have, has 4G LTE PLUS 2gig of ram. A little tidbit from one of many articles regarding quad versus dual core, granted it's from a tmobile site who won't have 4G sorry :-) A little tid bit from this link below: http://www.tmonews.com/2012/05/editorial-why-a-snapdragon-s4-galaxy-s-iii-is-awesome/ 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB of RAM means that Android can manage more in memory at once more quickly. What isn’t often mentioned is that this benefit offers a performance increase that is greater than having more CPU cores, since the Dalvik VM can aggressively manage memory better than it can handle threading and delegating threads to multiple CPU cores. Plus, more CPU cores takes more power, which eats away at battery quite a bit. More RAM with a dual-core processor instead of less RAM and a quad-core processor will offer far greater benefits on a smartphone. As for the CPU type, let me explain why I am of the opinion that the Snapdragon S4 is better than the Exynos 4. just settle the hell down, the snapdragon will do juust fine :)

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 11:23 AM 0

15. SmartPhoneStream

Posts: 162; Member since: Jun 21, 2012

I would still take S4 version because i would get better battery life and Quad COre processors aren't even utilized by Android

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 11:27 AM 0

16. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

not true at all. once Android was optimized for multiple cores with Android 3.0 and 4.0, it can take nearly every variation of multiple cores. As long as the hardware manufacturer updates a few lines of codes, Android can handle the extra cores with ease.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 12:03 PM 0

17. SmartPhoneStream

Posts: 162; Member since: Jun 21, 2012

what i mean is that many of the games in the Google Plays tore aren't optimized for Quad core and even dual core, while Android itself can handle Quad Core few games can. and most games that can are made for Tegra 3 and Tegra 2 (Tegra Zone) And Battery Life is very important to me as i'm not always near an outlet to charge my phone so that's why i would choose the Snapdragon version.

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 12:09 PM 0

20. ph00ny

Posts: 1986; Member since: May 26, 2011

Games are optimized for GPU not SoC and many of these SoCs even in their dual core formats have had multiple GPU cores Did you know that you can play tegra optimized games even with AA turned on with a simple plugin that translates tegra "optimized" code into standard openGL?

posted on Jun 25, 2012, 4:25 PM 0

21. tiara6918

Posts: 2263; Member since: Apr 26, 2012

Samsung, many people in korea are still using an iPhone. If you want to sell more devices, then selling this 4GLTE+Quad core on some countries and carriers that already supports it might not be a bad idea. Also, I won't be surprised if the galaxy s3 in korea will come in pink/red