With the new release of any phone, rumors and leaks are normal and help build anticipation for the product. As we approach Thursday's Samsung Galaxy S4 launch, we have sifted through the rumor reports and determined which ones are probably false.
1. Plastic or Glass?
One talked-about feature of the Galaxy S4 was whether Samsung was going to follow Apple and make the phone out of aluminum and glass. Recent photo leaks of what is allegedly supposed to be the Samsung Galaxy S4 help squash this rumor about the upcoming smartphone. The device in the photo looks much like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and shows a plastic looking device that has aluminum-like trimming. Also, Samsung's Executive Vice President of Mobile Business Y.H. Lee, said that the aesthetics of the phone would not be altered. Samsung considered how fast and efficiently phones can be manufactured, and glass or full body aluminum is just not feasible or durable. It's fair to say that the glass with aluminum rumor is most likely false and that Samsung is sticking to the plastic design.
2. Processor?
The Galaxy S4 processor rumor is still up in the air as to whether there will be an Exynos 5 Dual, an Exynos 5 Octa 5410 or a Snapdragon 600 processor. Samsung Galaxy series fans were undoubtedly impressed to hear that the smartphone would feature the Exynos 5 Octa eight-core processor. A rumor came about that said Samsung was going to swap the Exynos 5 Octa for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor or use the quad-core version of Exynos 5 instead. Reports alleged that an overheating issue was the reason for the change. A new rumor on Sammyhub alleges that the Snapdragon 600 will be featured in the U.S. variant and the international variant will get the Exynos 5 Octa eight-core. Why would Samsung divert from the Exynos line and go to Snapdragon? That's like going backwards. Also, the alleged photo of the Galaxy S4 shows the existence of "Universal 5410" (codename for Exynos Octa 5410) on deck. We can possibly rule out the Snapdragon 600 processor since the Galaxy S3 featured the Exynos 4 quad-core processor.
3. Exynos 5 Octa LTE Compatibility?
One rumor reported non-compatibility between LTE technology and the Exynos 5 Octa processor. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S3 are LTE compatible and run an Exynos 4 quad-core processor. How would it be possible that the innovative Exynos 5 Octa would not be LTE compatible? We can rule out the LTE compatibility issue in this case.
4. SoLux?
We heard rumors that the Galaxy S4 is supposed to have a SoLux display and more recently, a PHOLED, environmentally friendly screen. We can probably rule out the SoLux since the Samsung Galaxy series trend appears to be the AMOLED display. The original Galaxy S, Galaxy S2 and Galaxy S3 all feature some version of an AMOLED. We may be able to rule out the SoLux display.
5. Camera
Not much was said about the camera until recently when a new rumor developed saying that the S4 might have a 3D camera. We may be able to rule this out since reports last year said that Samsung was working a 13-megapixel camera. Prior to the 3D rumor, we heard that the Galaxy S4 features a 13MP camera, 4MP higher than the 8MP found on the Galaxy S3.
