Samsung Galaxy S IV To Come With Both Snapdragon 600 & Exynos 5 CPUs [Rumor]

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Samsung has confirmed it will announce the much-anticipated Galaxy S IV at a public launch event in New York City’s Times Square on March 14, but until then, the details surrounding the handset’s design and specifications remain a mystery.

Recent reports have offered hints at what the new device may offer, and according to the latest, there will be two versions — one powered by Qualcomm’s quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, and one powered by Samsung’s eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chip. But why do we need two?

Well, according to JP Morgan Securities, one of the devices — the one with the Snapdragon 600 processor — will be available in the United States, and the other one — with Samsung’s new Exynos 5 processor — will go to Europe.

It wouldn’t be the first time Samsung has launched the same device with different processors for different markets. In fact, its last Android flagship, the Galaxy S III, offered a quad-core Exynos 4412 processor in Europe and Asia, and a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor in the U.S.

Samsung did this for LTE connectivity. Explaining the move to CNET last June, the Korean company said that the Snapdragon S4 chipset had the necessary LTE radios the handset needed for 4G connectivity in the U.S., while the Exynos 4 did not. That didn’t matter in Europe, where LTE networks were — and still are in some places — hard to come by.

But here in the U.K., carriers have begun launching their 4G networks. EE has been offering 4G services since last October, and we’ll see more from rival carriers this summer. With that being the case, the U.K. may see both versions of the Galaxy S IV.

None of this is confirmed until Samsung actually announces the device, of course; for now it’s just a rumor. But if you had the choice between LTE connectivity and Samsung’s brand new eight-core processor, which would you go for?