According to a PDF on Samsung’s very own site, there’s a device that’s going to come out called the SHV-E330S that looks exactly like the Galaxy S4. On page 154 of that PDF, the spec sheet says it has a Qualcomm MSM8974 under the hood. That’s a fancy way of saying Snapdragon 800.

I first reported the possibility of this faster GS4 variant existing over two weeks ago, so I’m happy to see this is finally true. It’s obviously not 100% confirmed until Samsung publishes a press released, but this manual is good enough for me.

The big question: Will this be sold outside of Korea? I’m going to have to say no. First of all, Samsung wants to launch the SHV-E330S to take advantage of Korea’s soon to be turned on LTE-Advanced network. No such network exists in other parts of the world. Second point, the Snapdragon 800 just started shipping, so quantities are going to be limited. Third point, how exactly is Samsung going to market that this “new” S4 is better than the “old” S4 that went on sale a little over a month ago?

Exactly.

When will you see a Galaxy device in your country with a Snapdragon 800? Probably by the end of this year, and it’ll be called the Galaxy Note III. There may be other Snapdragon 800 Galaxy phones, but I don’t want to speculate because I’ll start talking about the GS5, and it’s way too early for that.