The rumours continue to swirl around Samsung’s next flagship smartphone. While most recent ones have suggested that we could see two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S5, one with a plastic body and a premium variant with a metal body and a flexible AMOLED display, a report today dismisses the existence of the latter. Hit-and-miss Digitimes indicates that its sources tell it that this will not happen in time for an early 2014 launch as no component supplier has yet to begin production of metal-alloy chassis for Samsung.
The report adds that Samsung is still considering whether or not to move forward with metal chassis. Such a move would not only increase production costs but Samsung may also be thinking that it was able to establish itself as the largest smartphone manufacturer by using plastic-bodied devices and does not necessarily need to switch to metal ones to maintain that leadership.
At the same time, Samsung may be considering new compounds such as “fiberglass/plastic or carbon fiber/plastic” combinations to further reduce costs.
As we have seen in the past, these conflicting rumours are likely a sign that Samsung is working with multiple prototypes for the Galaxy S5. Whether we see two (or more) variants launch at the same time or even a staggered rollout, it is very likely that Samsung is at least seriously considering metal frames for some upcoming devices. Whether it does so for the Galaxy S5 or not may depend on other features the device comes with. Should other innovations, such as an iris-tracker, a 64-bit processor and a 16MP camera be enough to allow Samsung to differentiate it from its competition, it may simply choose to save this option for a future device.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is expected to launch sometime in early 2014. Most rumours put the launch at sometime in Q1.
Source : Digitimes