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Samsung just unveiled the world’s fastest smartphone… but you can’t buy it

Published Dec 29th, 2014 12:40PM EST
Galaxy Note 4 LTE-A Specs and Release Date
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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The Galaxy Note 4 is only a few months old, but Samsung has already upgraded it, releasing a better version of the phablet just like it did with the Galaxy S5 earlier this year. However, as was the case with its earlier flagship handset, the improved Galaxy Note 4 phablet won’t be available to most people looking to buy the best model around.

FROM EARLIER: The 10 most aggravating things about Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4

The company on Monday revealed the new Galaxy Note 4 model will be the “world’s first LTE Advanced tri-band carrier aggregation smartphone.”

“Users can download a 700MB video in about 19 seconds or 10 songs with 40MB in about one second,” Samsung said, praising the data speeds of the new Galaxy Note 4 version.

As AnandTech points out, the superior LTE data transfers, with theoretical speeds reaching 300Mbps on Category 6 LTE networks, are possible thanks to a new System on Chip (SoC) that’ll be found inside this Galaxy Note 4 smartphone. The handset’s faster SoC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, has eight cores in a big.LITTLE configuration and also includes a modem capable of theoretical speeds of up to 450Mbps on future Category 9 LTE networks, or 300Mbps on current LTE-A networks.

In addition to the Galaxy Note 4 LTE-A, the new SoC is rumored to power next year’s top Android smartphones, including Samsung’s next top handset, the Galaxy S6 that has already been detailed in plenty of rumors.

Unfortunately, this special Galaxy Note 4 version will only be available in South Korea beginning in January 2015.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.