Samsung Unveils LTE-Advanced Version of Galaxy S4

Samsung on Wednesday unveiled an LTE-Advanced version of its Galaxy S 4 flagship smartphone, which will connect to networks that provide double the speed of today's 4G LTE networks, the company said.

LTE-Advanced is basically an upgrade from 4G LTE. U.S. carriers have discussed plans for LTE-Advanced, but are currently still rolling out their 4G LTE networks. When they make the switch to LTE-Advanced, however, a phone like the Galaxy S4 LTE-A would be able to take advantage of those boosted networks speeds.

Given the limited availability of LTE-A, the new smartphone will first be available in Korea, starting this summer, in blue arctic or red aurora.

"Samsung maintains a unique position for delivering LTE innovations as a provider of the parts, devices, and equipment required to deliver next-generation 4G LTE services," Samsung co-CEO JK Shin said in a statement. "The introduction of the Galaxy S4 LTE-A demonstrates Samsung's desire and ability to provide consumers with technological innovations that take advantage of increased network speeds to deliver richer and fuller experiences."
Samsung Galaxy S 4 (Sprint)

At the CTIA trade show last year, Sprint and T-Mobile said they are exploring LTE-Advanced. At CTIA this year, Nvidia also showed off a prototype LTE-Advanced smartphone running downloads at 150 megabits per second, 10 times as fast as many home cable connections.

Last month, meanwhile, Samsung said it had made a breakthrough in the development of "5G" technology, which will ultimately be several hundred times faster than current 4G networks.