Samsung has been relatively quiet since the recent launch of its Galaxy Note 3 phablet and Galaxy Gear smartwatch, but the consumer tech giant reportedly has a big first quarter planned. According to a new report from South Korean news site ET News, Samsung is cooking up at least five new smartphones that will launch during the first quarter next year. The handsets will range from entry-level to high-end and the star of the show will reportedly be Samsung’s next-generation hero phone, the Galaxy S5.
Earlier reports suggested that Samsung plans to rush out its new flagship Galaxy S5 because sales of the current Galaxy S4 have fallen well short of expectations. One report even claimed that the new flagship phone will debut next month. This may or may not be the case, but it wasn’t the first time we saw reports of S4 sales that were slowing prematurely — shipments shot to 40 million units in six months, but that apparently wasn’t enough to meet Samsung’s lofty expectations because reports of component order cuts began surfacing just a few months after the Galaxy S4 debuted.
As for the Galaxy S5, early reports paint a very appealing picture. Samsung’s new hero phone will reportedly feature a 64-bit eight-core Exynos processor, 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel camera with dramatically improved low-light performance, a massive 4,000 mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat. What’s more, a recent report claims to confirm that the new Galaxy S5 will finally feature a metal case, and Samsung’s suppliers are supposedly about to start shipping unibody aluminum housings.
If the Galaxy S5 does launch during the first quarter, Samsung will put plenty of space between its flagship smartphone and various high-profile launches expected from Samsung’s rivals next year. The company also reportedly plans to debut a new high-end “Galaxy F” line in 2014 as well as a fourth Galaxy Note phablet installment, so it may be looking to spread out its various high-end handset releases.
ET News reports that Samsung will also launch a Galaxy Note 3 Lite, a Galaxy Grand Lite and two entry-level Android phones between January and March next year.
