Samsung has been making Android phones made out of plastic since it’s first Android-powered Samsung Galaxy offering back in April 2009. I don’t know if you’ll remember, but the phone I’m talking about is Samsung i7500 Galaxy. That device ran Android 1.5 Cupcake out of the box, that should give you an idea how long has passed since then. Over 5 years later Samsung is still sticking with plastic phones and hardware buttons on the front, though now their device have only 1 hardware button there. One would think it’s about time to mix it up a bit and introduce a premium material into their smartphone line, it seems Samsung is finally going to do that.
Samsung’s profits were down in Q2 this year. Compared to last year, we’re talking about a 24% drop. They said it’s mainly due to a low demand for their low-mid range smartphones and competition from other manufacturers in that specific market. In the meantime we’ve seen a ton of Samsung Galaxy Alpha leaks, which is supposed to be Samsung’s premium build materials smartphone which should launch soon. All of that seems to be true, according to Kim Hyun-joon, senior vice-president of Samsung Mobile.
Wall Street Journal reports that Mr. Kim told analysts and investors that a large screen phone will be released in the coming months. We presume he’s talking about a Galaxy Note 4 which is supposed to launch at IFA this year. He did however mention another phone, or as he said another model made out of “new materials”. It is kind of obvious he’s talking about a Samsung Galaxy Alpha which leaked so many times thus far. The only questions remain when will this happen (leaks say August 4 or August 13) and what specifications are we talking about here, if we presume that leaked device is indeed how the phone will look once it’s out.
In addition, we’ve also seen a screen leak, according to Samsung Developer Console this device will sport a 720p panel. This seems a bit odd, but we’ll find out if its true soon enough. As for the specs, we’ve seen some talk about a Snapdragon 801 accompanied by 2GB of RAM while the latest rumors are pointing towards an octa-core Exynos 5433 and 2GB of RAM along with a 12MP camera. These are only rumors of course, but it will be interesting if they truly release a 720p device made out of some sort of metal. It is worth mentioning Mr. Kim also said that they’ll release a few low-mid tier devices as well later this year.
Anyone waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Alpha?
