The Samsung Galaxy S5 is one of the best and most feature packed smartphones ever, yet despite it only coming out recently Samsung is seemingly already trying to improve on it.
An increasing number of rumours point to a Samsung Galaxy F, previously known as the Samsung Galaxy S5 Prime. A phone which promises to displace the S5 as Samsung’s true flagship.
There are still a lot of questions surrounding it, but the rumours we’re hearing so far point to a very, very promising handset.
Early release date rumours pointed to late June or early July, but we’re now in mid-June with no firm sign of it so that’s looking increasingly unlikely.
More recently @evleaks received a tip claiming that the Samsung Galaxy F would launch in September, which at this point seems more likely. That also makes more sense anyway because it would give the Galaxy S5 some breathing room. Launch too soon after it and Samsung could eat into the S5’s sales, not to mention angering those who already bought the S5.
A September launch would mean the Galaxy F will be going up against the iPhone 6, but Samsung is perhaps the only company that could actually compete in that contest.
The UK price hasn’t been revealed yet, but supposedly it will carry a price of KRW 900,000 in South Korea, which equates to roughly £523. However once you add taxes on it’s likely to be closer to £600 in the UK, which would make it more expensive than the Galaxy S5.
There’s a good chance that the Samsung Galaxy F will launch with a QHD 1440 x 2560 display. After all, LG has equipped the G3 with one and now other manufacturers are likely to follow suit lest their phones are deemed sub-par. In practice the benefits of a QHD screen on devices this size is questionable at best, but it’s almost certainly going to start becoming a common feature and the Galaxy F is likely to be the first Samsung handset to get one.
On the other hand, TK Tech News has published some videos supposedly showing the handset and in these it only has a 1080p screen, so it’s possible that Samsung will stick with that resolution.
As for the screen size, that’s tipped at 5.2 inches, making it ever so slightly bigger than the 5.1 inch Galaxy S5.
Most rumours at the moment point to the Samsung Galaxy F having a metal body, which would arguably be the biggest and most exciting change from the plastic clad Galaxy S5.
A recent FCC filing also points to the Samsung Galaxy F having the same length and width as the Galaxy S5 (72.5 x 142mm). There’s no word on what thickness it will be but expect it to be a similar sized handset overall. However, as the screen is expected to be bigger that would mean the bezels have been shrunk to accommodate it, much like LG did when going from the G2 to the G3.
Most rumours are pointing to the Galaxy F having a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor, which would be an improvement on the 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor powering the Samsung Galaxy S5.
However SamMobile claims it will come with an in-house Exynos 5433 processor, which would probably be octa-core. Either way, it should make it one of the most powerful handsets around.
The Samsung Galaxy F is also expected to come with 3GB of RAM and an Adreno 420 GPU, both of which would be improvements on the Galaxy S5’s specs.
Not much has been said about the Galaxy F’s camera so far but what we have heard points to it having an identical snapper to the Galaxy S5. That means 16 megapixels on the back and 2 on the front, along with 4K video recording capabilities.
The Galaxy F is bound to ship with whatever the latest version of Android is at the time, which given the likely September launch could even mean it comes with Android 4.5. It’s also thought the battery will be boosted up to 3000 mAh and the fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor from the Galaxy S5 will almost certainly be included.
There’s no word on any other features being added, but the Galaxy F more seems aimed at improving on the Galaxy S5 than adding new features anyway.
