It hasn’t been an earth-shattering show for mobile this year. CES 2013 has thrown up some interesting devices, but the big players in mobile seem to be saving their announcements for MWC (Mobile World Congress) next month. If you’re in the market for an upgrade, you’d do well to bide your time and wait just a little longer to see what else is on the horizon. There will be new releases from HTC and LG, RIM’s BlackBerry 10 will arrive, and there’s never a shortage of new iPhone rumors, but the device you can’t afford to ignore is the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Bigger and better
Check out our Best of CES 2013 in Mobile to find full details on the devices that grabbed our attention. The “phablet” space is getting competitive with releases like the 6.1-inch Huawei Ascend Mate, and the market is predictably being flooded with new tablets, but there’s a lack of innovation in the smartphone segment. Sony’s new flagship, the Xperia Z, is a good example. It has a 5-inch 1080p display, a quad-core processor, and a 13-megapixel camera, just like the newly announced ZTE Grand S and the Huawei Ascend D2.
The Xperia Z definitely compares favorably with the Android leaders right now, but it doesn’t offer much beyond the HTC Droid DNA, which came out last November. A bigger camera and an impressive level of water resistance don’t qualify as big innovations.
We don’t have details on carriers or pricing yet, but the Xperia Z is a premium product and will no doubt have a price tag to match. The ZTE Grand S and Huawei Ascend D2 are launching in China and we don’t yet know when, or if, they’ll reach the states.
The truth is that none of the smartphones announced at CES 2013 should you have you running to the stores or phoning your carrier for an upgrade. When you factor in pricing, you could build a pretty strong case for the Pantech Discover being the most noteworthy release – it’s $50 on a two-year contract at AT&T and it has a 4.8-inch 720p display, a decent 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and a 12.6-megapixel camera. A variant called the Pantech Perception will also be available on Verizon.
You’ll be sorry if you don’t wait
If you’re looking for something slightly better than the Galaxy S3 then there are definitely some options out there, but what will Samsung bring to the table with the Galaxy S4? Until we see what Samsung’s new iteration has to offer, it would be jumping the gun to upgrade your smartphone.
The brand that Samsung has built with the Galaxy S series is impressive. The Galaxy S2 really upped the ante for Android and the Galaxy S3 took it to a whole new level. The Galaxy S3 has surpassed 30 million unit sales worldwide, making it Samsung’s most successful smartphone ever. It was the number one, best-selling smartphone in the third quarter of 2012, beating the iPhone into second place. It won a number of “phone of the year” awards and it is still going strong.
The S3 set the standard for Android smartphones and other manufacturers struggled to match it in the weeks and months following its May 2012 release.
The weight of expectation
Levels of expectation for the Galaxy S brand are sky high. We are starting to see the same kind of excited anticipation and the same explosion of rumors that traditionally precedes a new iPhone launch. That’s because Samsung has consistently kicked it up a gear. The specs for the S2 and S3 were streets ahead of the competition at the time of release. Only HTC came close to keeping up but poor marketing put paid to any chance of competing.
Samsung knows what is expected of it. The S4 has to blow the competition away. If it can’t do so in terms of raw power then there has to be a new innovation. The company is gargantuan with fingers in more pies than you can count and its vast resources allow incredibly fast turnaround times on new developments. We’ve seen teasers of flexible displays and eight core processors from Samsung at CES. It seems doubtful that either is ready to roll out in the Galaxy S4, but you never know.
When will we see it?
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S2 at MWC back in February 2011, but it didn’t hit the market until May of the same year. The Galaxy S3 wasn’t unveiled until May 3rd 2012, but it was rolling out into the marketplace by the end of the same month. There are plenty of rumors about a March or April release, but why would Samsung break with the established cycle? We think a standalone Samsung event in May will be followed by the S4 release later the same month, just like the S3.
With the Galaxy S3 still selling so well and a distinct lack of pressure from rival manufacturers, Samsung can afford to wait a little longer and make sure it produces another standout device. Nothing at CES 2013 will have worried Samsung. MWC next month might be a different story. If something big from HTC or LG grabs the public’s attention then perhaps the S4 will break cover earlier, but we doubt you’ll be able to lay hands on one before the summer.
You might feel that another few months is too long to wait. That will largely depend on what you are rocking right now. If Samsung knocks it out of the ballpark for the third time in a row you’re going to lament that lack of patience – don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Thought this would be an article on specs and features, not hype.
We don’t know the specs and features of the S4 yet, as soon as we do we’ll cover them. I’m predicting that they’ll be impressive, in my opinion, based on Samsung’s track record they’re very likely to outdo everything that was announced at CES.
if you keep waiting for the best phone ever, you’re never going to end up buying one
Thats not true! Im still waiting for the iPhone 10!
waited for the note 2. got it. love it. done.
That’s cool & all, but what’d REALLY interest me would be some significant improvements in battery-composition/lifespan.
>>battery-composition/lifespan. <<
My S3, clocks in around 13 hours average. And that's pretty much using it all day on. My iPhone4s was around 6 under the same average use. My HTC evo4g was around 4. To me, that's a significant improvement already.
note 2 battery is 2 days average
Gonna wait for a brain/phone implant so I can have unlimited size screen in my head
I’m sorry, 5″ phones are just too big. My S3 at 4.8″ is pushing it.
Perhaps 5″ are too big for you, but I’m using the Note 1 and Note 2 and I for sure won’t go smaller.
Once you’ve used the Note a little longer I’m sure you’ll find everything else is too small.
Oh I can’t wait ’till Samsung releases the Note 3.
.2″ longer (and that’s measured diagonally) isn’t even that much, but I guess it’s all relative to the size of your hand lol
the author is an android fanboy, said so many things yet spoke bout nothing
Comments like these are so dumb. If he wrote about Apple he would be an Apple fanboy to Android users. Writers just can’t win!
I’m sorry for my harsh comment. But you being an author shouldn’t be giving personal opinions and calling the user ‘dumb’ is purely uncalled for. Anyways the point I wanted lay across was he spoke nothing about the specs or the features but just asked us to wait for S4. Why? because it has produced some good products and it is a successful line in the Galaxy series (100 million to date) and there is a hype.
Its funny how you didn’t respond/ refute your point on the top comment.
Anyway I enjoy the articles on your website and I found this one utterly biased. Frankly I also feel dt is pro-android. Maybe not, but what I see reading the articles I feel that way. Anyways you Sir, have a good one and I look forward to responses that do not comprise of ‘dumb’ on a user comment.
I thought the article was fine and Simon gave some pretty good reasons as to why you might want to wait. He also had some good advice:
“Until we see what Samsung’s new iteration has to offer, it would be jumping the gun to upgrade your smartphone.”
There’s ALWAYS something around the corner to wait for. If you like what you see out there now, get it. Technology and Procrastination don’t work well together.
I couldn’t agree more. It’s that way with everything. Electronics, cars, etc