Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A With 5.1-Inch QHD Display, Snapdragon 805 Launched

Samsung has announced an LTE-A variant of the Galaxy S5 in South Korea. The new variant of the Galaxy S5 will be exclusive to South Korea initially and has been priced at SKW 940,500 (translating to roughly Rs. 55,350). As of now, there is no word from Samsung whether the Galaxy S5 LTE-A will be available outside the home country.

Notably, the Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A appears to be the company's long-rumoured Galaxy S5 Prime and comes with upgraded specifications. Samsung Korea has reportedly pushed back the release date for the Galaxy S5 LTE-A, but not provided a revised timeline.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A, unlike the Galaxy S5 (Review | Pictures), features a 5.1-inch QHD (1440x2560 pixels) Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 577ppi (a pixel density higher than the LG G3's display). With the launch, the Galaxy S5 LTE-A has become the first smartphone in Samsung's lineup to sport a QHD display. The new smartphone supports Korea's LTE-A band and features download speeds up to 225Mbps.

In addition, the Galaxy S5 LTE-A comes with Qualcomm's latest chipset, a quad-core Snapdragon 805 SoC clocked at 2.5GHz and coupled with 3GB of RAM. The smartphone comes with 32GB inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 128GB via microSD card.

Recently, LG launched its 2014 flagship, the G3, which also featured a QHD display (at a larger 5.5-inch size, and lower pixel density of 538ppi), but a Snapdragon 801 processor.

Rest of the specifications of the Galaxy S5 LTE-A remain identical to the original Galaxy S5 that includes 16-megapixel rear camera; 2-megapixel front camera, and 2800mAh battery. It also runs Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box with the company's skin on top.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 LTE-A features other goodies from the 2014 flagship such as fingerprint and heart rate sensors; NFC; USB 3.0 and an IR sensor blaster. The smartphone is again water and dust resistant with IP67 certification. The Galaxy S5 LTE-A also comes preloaded with features such as Ultra Power Saving Mode, Kids Mode, S Health, and Private Mode.

The new Galaxy S5 LTE-A will be available in Charcoal Black, Copper Gold, Electric Blue, Glam Red, Shimmer White, and Sweet Pink colour options.

Samsung launched the Galaxy S5 at the sidelines of MWC, while the handset went on sale worldwide in April.