Samsung India to Launch More 4G Smartphones Across Price Points

The company on Thursday launched two 4G-enabled smartphones in India, the Samsung Galaxy J5 and Samsung Galaxy J7 - priced at Rs. 11,999 and Rs. 14,999, respectively.

"Currently, we have 10 LTE smartphones and today, we are adding two more. Going ahead, we will launch more 4G devices across price points," Samsung India Vice President Marketing (IT and Mobile) Asim Warsi said without disclosing further details.

He added that 4G adoption will happen at a faster pace than 3G in the country and the company is geared up to tap into the opportunity, he added.

"We are a full portfolio player. We will have products across price points," he said.

The Android 5.1-based Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 smartphones are dual-SIM dual standby handsets that will be available in Black, White, and Gold colours. Notably, the company has launched slightly different models from those launched in China, with differences including display type, processor, and inbuilt storage. The models launched also do not support TDD-LTE Band 40 (2300MHz) for 4G LTE in India, and only the FDD-LTE Band 3 (1800MHz) that has yet to see a rollout in the country.

Update: While the specifications initially provided by Samsung India did not mention support for 2300MHz TDD-LTE Band 40, Samsung has confirmed to NDTV Gadgets that the Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7 smartphones do indeed support this band as well as 1800MHz FDD-LTE Band 3. Airtel uses Band 40 for its 4G services in India right now, and other operators are lining up to launch 4G services using Band 3.

Both smartphones feature front-facing LED flash, the first handsets from the company to do so, making them selfie-focus smartphones. The Samsung Galaxy J5 features a 5-inch Super Amoled display with a HD screen resolution of 720x1280 pixels. The smartphone is backed by 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 SoC coupled with 1.5GB of RAM. The Indian model features 8GB of built-in storage instead of the Chinese model's 16GB, and it is further expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB). It packs a 2600mAh battery, which is rated to deliver a standby time of 342 hours. It sports a 13-megapixel rear autofocus camera with f/1.9 aperture and 5-megapixel front camera. Apart from 4G, the handset supports 3G, Bluetooth v4.1, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, Glonass and Micro-USB. The Galaxy J5 measures 142x73x8.5mm and weighs 149 grams.

The Samsung Galaxy J7 features similar specifications to the Galaxy J5. The only differences in the Galaxy J7 are the larger 5.5-inch Super Amoled display with the same resolution, 16GB of inbuilt storage, and a 3000mAh battery rated to deliver 354 hours of standby time. The smartphone measures 152.2x79.1x7.9mm and weighs 168 grams. Notably, Samsung has launched a variant of the Galaxy J7 in India that sports an 1.5GHz octa-core Exynos 7580 processor instead of the octa-core Snapdragon 615 SoC that was launched with the China model.

Written with inputs from PTI