Following hot on the heels of the Samsung Galaxy S5 launch in South Korea, Australia and India, the company may be cooking up something new. Early reports hint that Samsung is busy working on an affordable line of LTE devices.
In other major markets like India and Australia, Samsung has been experiencing a drop in sales due to fierce competition from industry rivals such as Apple, LG, Nokia and Sony. To counter the encroachment of its rivals, Samsung is currently in the midst of preparing more affordable LTE devices to boost sales.
"The landscape we see is TDDLTE on 2300 MHz band, 3G on 2100 MHz and 900 MHz bands and FDD LTE on 1800 MHz band. Now that we know this will happen, we can start looking at road maps that take this into account," said Samsung India head of IT and Mobiles Division Vineet Taneja. "Before the operators are ready, we will be ready with the road map and products for the market."
Samsung has recently completed the launch of its new flagship device the Galaxy S5 and three new wearable peripherals. The new smartwatches include the Gear 2, the Gear Fit and the Gear 2 Neo. While the devices have been launched, they are not yet available for purchase but pre-orders have now been opened in India and Australia.
While the company may be working on new LTE devices, Taneja said that the company's plans for launching the new devices will be influenced by local carriers. LTE infrastructure is still being expanded and the launch of the new devices will depend on how fast carriers can implement their LTE networks. Taneja also said the LTE usage will grow even more in the year 2015 and the following years.
In India, four local carriers including Vodafone Inda, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular already purchased the rights for the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in order to offer their own LTE services. The purchase was made during a February government auction.
During the launch of the S5 in South Korea, Samsung faced a bit of a pickle going against local carriers. Due to a government imposed suspension that will affect two of the country's largest carriers this coming April, the new flagship was released earlier than planned. Samsung tried to stop the move but the local telecom companies were able to outmaneuver the company. Since the original plan called for an April release date, the carriers decided to sell the Galaxy S5 earlier to sidestep the suspension.
