By 
Okay, you should know I am only the messenger and this new Galaxy S III rumor should only be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, the The Korea Times is reporting that Samsung’s Galaxy S III might not come equipped with their quad-core Exynos processor some Android fans have been lusting after since it was announced yesterday. Apparently, a Samsung executive explained to them that the Samsung will, in fact, be using the 4 Quad in Europe where it will compatible with their 3G bands, and in Korea where their LTE will be fully compatible as well. When it comes to us in the states, it’s being said Samsung will use Qualcomm’s (still very adequate) dual-core S4 processor.
I’m no expert, but it could have something to do with the unique combination of T-Mobile/AT&T’s HSPA+/LTE bands throwing Samsung off. Seeing how one of Korea’s largest carriers, SK Telecom, uses a combination of CDMA and LTE technology, there could still be a good chance Sprint/Verizon’s versions will feature Sammy’s quad. Adding to the drama is talk of a possible S4 shortage with Qualcomm reportedly not being able to keep up demand. If that turns out to be true, we can only wonder what Samsung will do then.
What do you guys think? Potentially bad news? Does the Galaxy S III’s processor even matter to you? If this actually pans out, will this send you, and your wallet, to another device? Of course, nothing has been confirmed and before you start chucking rotten tomatoes onstage, it’s best to wait for Samsung’s official announcement in just a few short days.
[The Korea Times | Via The Verge]
Still hating rumors. But it sucks that there is even a consideration. Why wouldn’t Samsung just use their own? Push their own hardware.
All I really want, is quad core w/LTE compatability. I’d love a pure Samsung Experience, as I am a Samsung believer. Hell, I’d buy a Samsung car if they made it. But the consideration to use a competitor’s chip sounds illogical on Samsung’s behalf.
Different chips work differently with different network technologies… for the AT&T and T-Mobile network the Exynos may not be the best choice. A processor isn’t “just a processor.” They are all tailored for different uses. Qualcomm actually has some decent chips, and if the chip is made right then the number of cores really means nothing. The number of cores is usually used as a marketing gig. (although Nokia or Windows phone 7 saying that any more than one core is pointless is a bit misguided.)
Though I will admit I would like to try out an Exynos (I am on Sprint.)
I’m disappointed theyre not using the 5250 :( so the gs3 is kind of a let down for me. The note it is!
But the Note has the weak S3 in it =/
Unless you go for the unlocked international version…
The next iteration of the Galaxy Note Tablet/Phone Hybrid will probably have Exynos 5250 if the “HTC Scribe” is any indication, at a guess Samsung is likely differentiating its devices between 4412 for its flagship phones and tablets in the Summer and 5250 for its Galaxy Note 2 and Windows 8 Tablet in the Fall.
I’m going to be holding onto my Note until they sort this LTE = inferior processor thing out.
If HTC were smart, they would come out with Medfield processors to differentiate their products, which Samsung will not do, because they are invested in their own processors. But alas HTC is no longer that smart and Samsung will dominate.
If the T-Mobile version doesn’t have the Exynos, Samsung lost a customer (at least for the S3).
i like your statement but if Sprint or Verizon get the GSIII with Exynos processor and T-mobile doesn’t… well T-Mobile lost a customer not Samsung
Doubt it i dont think they would make the same mistake twice. Plus didnt they say that they would be integrating LTE in their new chips? Glad Im on sprint
When it was just 3G life was easier. Now LTE WTF new tech more problems
I’ll wait for the comparison benchmarks before making an opinion
This rumor feels like some clever troll took the opportunity to stir up some anger after seeing how upset people got when the one x got s4 instead of T3. That said, if it does ship with s4 to Sprint, I will be getting evo LTE instead.
Actually a lot of us One XL owners were happy to get the S4 instead of the T3.
How are you enjoying the AT&T 1X?
I’m loving it. Funny enough, the battery has been lasting longer than the international version. And I’ve never used too much memory on my phone, so 16gb is fine for me
That is great news. I’m really psyched about the EVOLTE coming to Sprint. Luckily for me, I’m not paying anything for it lol.
Oh no doubt! I personally am happy about the switch to s4 also! But the internet was swarming with people crying about it.
You should be getting the EVO LTE anyway. It’s better.
It would be a huge coup for VZW if they end up with the only quad core model in the states. Looks promising if the Korean version is cdma/lte and is getting quad core.
I might forgive them for skipping the GSII if Verizon got the only GS3 with a quad core processor. I won’t be upgrading since I have a GNex, but I still keep track of things and wish the GSII was part fo the line up so I could suggest it to friends who ask.
If Anything I want Tegra 3, Im aware that the S4 is (arguably) superior but I just want the Tegra 3 Optimized Games to go with that 720P Non Pentile Display :D Yes I do play games on my phone, and text ALOT…No I dont use it as a phone..
Sucks to be you
happens often
Tegra 3 optimized barely means anything, and you might as well play the games on the SGS3, just install chainfire3d.
Also it doesn’t say that it won’t include the pentile layout, don’t get you hopes up yet.
If the One X with the T3 in the EU is better than the HSPA One S and LTE One X with the S4 in the US, does that then mean the S3 with the S4, the One S with the S4, and the One X S4 on LTE basically all suck compared to a T3 on the One X or even a new E4 on the S3 in the EU, or should I just assume the S3 with S4 on LTE would still be the best one in the US?
No, seriously…what have we become.
Samsung Galaxy S3 finally leaked!
http://goo.gl/uvVIG
I WANT THE SAMSUNG PROCESSOR, HANDS DOWN!
Maybe I am mistaken, but I thought the quad core problem was with sprint and verizon. I thought Chris C mentioned that the quad could run on T-Mobile HSPA 42 with no problem.
Am I mixed up and that is concerning the Tegra?
If it has the snapdragon S4 I will absolutely not buy the Galaxy S3. I want the highest graphics performance possible. The only way I’d consider it is if it included the adreno 300 series gpu
If you want the highest grapics performance, then why chose the SGS3?
The mali-400 is terrible for gaming.
I’ll take a quad core s4 with 320 Mali Gpu not dual core
I’d rather take a dual core 2.5 Ghz S4.
2.5 Ghz S4?
oh wow, now I’ve heard everything.
Good luck with the cooling
ROCKCHIP! ROCKCHIP!
S4 Quad “Pro” then I don’t care about Exynos 4 Quad.
I’d be sad and a single tear would roll down. I’ve been lusting after it.
No no no no SKtelecom uses a combination of HSPA+ and LTE.
And KT,the second largest carrier in Korea, also uses combination of HSPA+ and LTE.
I don’t think it’s combination problem.
At this point I’m hoping the next nexus device carries an A15 processor, I currently have an atrix 4g and while I certainly believe the GS3 will be a huge new upgrade I really want that next “jump” to a whole new processor architeture; especially if LTE is still not integrated in to many of these new processors.
Well, I’m hoping they take the new OMAP 5 chips available, possibly with a Series 6 PowerVR gpu.
Exynos on T-Mobile or NOTHING!!!! WHY YOU NO HEAR SAMSUNG???!
what the hell seriously?? this is why we never get any good devices first HTC One gets the crapdraggon now GSIII as well?? this is stupid.. i hate their crapdragon processors we want EXYNOS!!! well if t-mobile doesn’t get the GSIII with exynos processor and other carriers do…. then i’m switching!!
The S4 is ‘based’ on A15 architecture (A15 hasn’t been released yet.) If the SGSIII has a simple A9 at lets say… 32NM, it may just get blown out of the water either way. The S4 is a 28NM does 3.3 processes a second. Now, rumors for the A15 architecture place it’s processes per second at 3.5. That means that if Samsung’s Exynos can’t pull off that many processes a second, then it won’t stack up to the raw processing power of a seemingly feeble dual-core S4. It doesn’t matter how many cores something has. It matters how fast the processor can handle and dish out instructions.
For some details, look here…
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5559/qualcomm-snapdragon-s4-krait-performance-preview-msm8960-adreno-225-benchmarks/3
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4940/qualcomm-new-snapdragon-s4-msm8960-krait-architecture
TL;DR – Good chance that the S4 may perform better than the new Exynos.
thanks for the info but i rather stick with Exynos processor than crapdragon tech wise i know you have better knowledge i admit that but to me it feels like exynos processor processes things much faster and smoother than crapdragon does IMO
Oh, so you’ve used the S4 as well as the new Exynos? And how were they??
ARM is to Intel as Qualcomm is to AMD – similar, but not the same, uses a common instruction set without one architecture being based on the other.
The Krait cores in S4 compare to, but aren’t based on, an ARM Cortex A-15.
Hope this clarifies a minor point. Otherwise, yes, you’re correct on performance.
You get what I meant though, right? The A15 instruction set hasn’t been made available yet. I was just trying to say that the S4 should be on par with A15 devices that are dual-core ONCE released… That’s what I believe should happen anyway. Quad-core A15s will blow dual core out of the water… But as for right now, I believe that the S4 is in a very good position to beat the SGSIII Exynos. I can’t say the same for the GPU since an overclocked Mali 400 seems to beat the Adreno 225 GPU, and I wouldn’t dare to overclock that Adreno because it may cause visual artifacts, and other problems with the phone. Maybe someone has a method I don’t know of, but either way I believe this year should be a good year for HTC.
Yep, I agree – the Krait compares to the A15. Fwiw, a decent reference here if anyone cares – http://www.arm.com/products/processors/cortex-a/
Fwiw – the Adreno 220 has been overclocked without terrible results, but I really don’t see the point of overclocking GPUs on any processor – there is so much involved in bus power management that the whole practice can really be … let’s just say, other.
The S4 can’t beat an Exynos in this market – the fans are too entrenched in mythos. You could release benchmarks that say some hypothetical Qualcomm tops one in every way, and you’d still get some insisting that the Exynos is somehow magically better.
Samsung knows better, and for example, simply clocks the various processors used in the SGS2 (S3, OMAP 4, Exynos) so that the overall user experience is the same.
And I’ll say it again – the GPU alone (or as the dominant parameter) doesn’t necessarily translate into the UI’s performance, that’s a common myth.
A processor is an important piece of silicon but it’s by no means the only silicon in the phone. ;)
I hope this is a good year for HTC – competition is good for us all, it’s the only way the makers step up to the plate and improve things. I think that many of us choose our favorite phones among limited choices – and when the new wears off, it’s not difficult to look at any phone and start the list of what was missed on this round.
How is that people are constantly talking about jumping ship on their carrier due to processors or phone models.. is it worth paying the ETF over ?
I think the bottom line is if it will be released in the US soon after the May 3 announcment or not. Although i have been waiting anxiously for the SIII, i will have to choose another device if they have another month delay for US roll out, probably the ATT One X.
Well it can’t be release BEFORE the May 3rd announcement ;) Seriously though, it’ll take the US months.
That is possible based on past releases, but didn’t Samsung say they were not releasing the S3 at the MWC so that it can be announced closer to shipping and without a gap between countries? Thats what i remember hearing – and it gave me hope!
yeah its gonna be like another three + months after the announcement for this to hit the US. Set your hopes for August.
I don’t understand–are LTE networks NEVER going to get quad core phones? Doesn’t that seem a little ridic? Shouldn’t that be a consideration when designing these things? I DONT UNDERSTAND!!
It could be possible to use a separate LTE-capable modem chip – adding to the layout complexity, manufacturing complexity, possibly changing the end size of the phone, definitely raising costs, and likely raising power consumption (if only a little).
That’s simply considering the current quad cores. Qualcomm said no, let’s upgrade the core processor ability (basically next gen compared to quad cores) and include a world modem, capable of any GSM/CDMA/LTE/BT/WiFi/NFC/GPS/Glonass signalling, and bring out a quad core later. Other makers brought out the quad core first, may incorporate adequate modems later.
Improvements are incremental over time.
The S4 doesn’t suck at all, really. Additionally, it has new power management, screen management, and multimedia management improvements over its previous generation S3 SoC (system on (a) chip), things that benchmarks simply don’t reveal.
Speaking of overall performance, all of the top SoCs seem to basically equivalent – each one excelling in some performance area, while being bested in another area. True of all seen and tested so far.
If it has an S4 Pro(Areno 320 gpu) I will buy it.
So the So is faster than the quad exynos?
Or is the So more in line with the TI Omap found in the Gnex? If that’s the case I should have just gotten the Gnex.
Seeing as how benchmarks for the S4 have been beating the Quad-Cores, I won’t mind it at all.
Actually, it’s LG U+ that uses CDMA/LTE. SK and KT offer HSPA+/LTE. The reason why the U.S. always gets Snapdragon S4 is because of U.S. Digital Dividend spectrum. Only Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SoCs have support for it. With the exception of Apple, Qualcomm has not been willing to allow the modems to be used with anything but Snapdragon APUs. South Korea uses LTE band class 5, which is a standard frequency band.
If it weren’t for the fact that T-Mobile wants all high end phones to support HSPA+42, then it could actually have Exynos 4 Quad, because it only uses the AWS band for LTE. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint will have to use Snapdragon S4 because their weird frequencies aren’t supported by any other chip. AT&T uses band class 17 for LTE (though they may be forced to band class 12), Verizon uses band class 13 for LTE, and Sprint uses band class 25 for LTE.
The result is that all variants of the next Galaxy phone will be Snapdragon S4 in the United States.