Samsung is, deservedly proud, of its flagship smartphones, certainly the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series. The Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 2 were big sellers for Samsung and the expectation of their replacements was running very high. The Galaxy Note 3 was just released in the U.S. this past week and, while not revolutionary, has enough improvements that it should sell very well – and is being received well by the critics with very good reviews. The Galaxy S4, on the other hand, had such a huge buildup that it could never live up to its expectations…and that was exactly what happened. Sales were below expectations for a Samsung flagship device even though it was the fastest selling smartphone in Samsung’s history and the fastest selling Android device in history, sales were such that Samsung had to lower their 100 million sales estimates by quite a bit.
Talk of its replacement, the Galaxy S5, have started to circulate, and many renderings of the new device have hit the streets, like the two you see here. That is not surprising, but what is surprising are the rumors that Samsung will announce their new flagship this January at CES 2014, less than a year after the Galaxy S4’s debut in April 2013. Samsung received a lot of criticism for its insistence of using plastic in its flagship phones, especially after the HTC One had this beautiful aluminum body, as well as the iPhone’s use of metal and glass. Samsung finally seemed to listen after the disappointing sales of the Galaxy S4, as if they were almost embarrassed by its sales performance.
There is much speculation that Samsung is rushing the new Galaxy S5 because of poor Galaxy S4 sales, and though not confirmed, certainly seems plausible. Details are scarce, but rumors are pointing to a 64-bit Octa-Core Exynos 5430 processor, which should actually be able to properly use all eight-cores. The camera would be bumped up to 16-mega pixels with true Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and the ability to take better low-light pictures. They would also like to include a fingerprint scanner, but that may have to wait until the Galaxy S6. The design and materials should also take a bigger leap than in the past renditions – and Samsung can certainly be the company that can do it.
Let us know in the comments or on Google+ what you would like to see in the next Galaxy S5 – did you buy an S4 and were you disappointed.