Samsung is already shooting to put an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) version of its Galaxy S4 up for sale.
Speaking with Reuters, CEO J.K. Shin said the device could be available in South Korea as early as next month.
LTE-Advanced is often touted as being able to deliver speeds of 1 Gbps. But an actual LTE-A deployments, like those in Russia that OEM Yota is taking advantage of, clock downlink rates closer to 90 Mbps.
Though the high-performance Galaxy could arrive before the end of the summer, it’ll be longer before it hits the U.S. since the country has no LTE-A networks. Verizon has mentioned plans to begin migrating to LTE-A. AT&T has promised to begin its LTE-A rollout in 2013. T-Mobile has just begun its LTE launch so it could some time before it takes the next step and Sprint is working hard to secure the financing and spectrum to continue its move to LTE away from ill-fated WiMax.
Samsung took an unexpected hit last month when analysts lowered the sales projections for the blockbuster Galaxy S4. But with so many variations of the Galaxy line hitting shelves, the S4 still selling well and a sequel to its well-received Galaxy Note phablet launching later this year, Samsung’s margins stay high.
