14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung announced its next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, earlier this week, but everyone was surprised as the company only revealed the so-called “standard” model.
Although previous rumors coming from various insiders, more or less trustworthy, have claimed that Samsung plans to copy Apple’s model and launch two Galaxy S5 models.
The “less-featured” variant should have been a slight improvement over the previous Galaxy S4 in terms of hardware and packing a few gimmicky features like heart rate monitor and fingerprint sensor.
The premium version would have been made of metal and packed with the latest hardware available on the market, such as QHD display that supports 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution, and a fast Exynos processor inside.
Disappointingly, only the first part of these allegations proved to be accurate, as Samsung new Galaxy S5 is not that innovative as one would expect from a flagship device.
Perhaps launching a new flagship smartphone per year is not beneficial for handset makers or customers. It looks like one year is not enough time for a huge company like Samsung to come up with something innovative that would blow your mind.
Well, that probably will lead to much lower sales than those of the Galaxy S4, which were not that great either. Still, we should give the South Korean company the benefit of a doubt and wait a few more months to see what it is really planning for the rest of the year.
However, not commenting on the premium Galaxy S5 is a smart move from Samsung. given the April release of the standard model.
Apparently, the reason for which Samsung has not announced the so-called premium version of Samsung Galaxy S5 was the lack of components (display, chipset) for the device that the company would face in case of a high amount of pre-orders.
Now, who wouldn’t want one of the few devices that boast a QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) display, even if that would mean paying a fortune for it.
Currently, the regular Galaxy S5 has been priced at €650 ($850) in various European countries, but this is not the final price of the smartphone and no way the amount confirmed by Samsung. In fact, Samsung has yet to offer any details on the Galaxy S5’s recommended retail price.
Still, if the regular Galaxy S5, which is made of plastic and comes with not so impressive hardware inside, has been priced at €650 ($850), the premium edition could easily be valued at around €800 ($1,010) - €900 ($1,235), if not higher.
Unfortunately, Samsung Galaxy S5 Premium Edition isn’t something that we can talk about with certainty, even though the same insiders that tipped it for the last couple of weeks keep saying that it’s still on track for a release later this spring.
Italian leaker Ricciolo claims that, due to HTC’s “All New One’s” shipping, which is expected to be unveiled on March 25, Samsung has decided to bring its “luxury” Galaxy S5 one month later than the regular version.
HTC’s new flagship smartphone will probably ship in April, at the same time as the standard Galaxy S5, which has been confirmed to arrive on April 11.
This is probably one of the reasons the South Korean company did not announce the more expensive Galaxy S5 this week – to avoid a huge backlog of orders for the Galaxy S5 premium edition.
For now, Samsung’s marketing policy makes sense, even if that’s only been shaped by the constraints of limited components for its premium product.
If the Galaxy S5 Premium Edition does not appear this year, even if launched under a different name, as the South Korean media suggests, Samsung may be in trouble as many of its fans might turn to more innovative devices.
Here is hoping that Samsung’s rumored F series or whatever it will be called will offer a truly major upgrade to the current Galaxy devices.