What We Know About the Samsung Galaxy S5

As we mentioned earlier this week, all signs point to the Samsung Galaxy S5 being officially unveiled at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. With its supposed reveal so close, there have been numerous leaks, rumors, and speculation, all painting a pretty solid picture of what the phone is shaping up to be.

Keep in mind that while the techie hivemind that is the Internet is usually pretty on the money with these things, none of these specifications are confirmed whatsoever.

Power and Screen

First came rumors that the S5 would ship with a 64-bit processor, then rumors of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip at 2.5GHz surfaced. The recently leaked packaging indeed lists a 2.5GHz CPU, so that’s likely the one. The packaging also lists 3GB of RAM, so no surprise there.

A lot of rumors pointed towards a screen resolution of 2560 x 1440 and the packaging says the phone will have a 5.25-inch QHD, which works out to 2560 x 1440. Rumor has the pixel count at 2K, which is insane for a screen that small, but Samsung has announced their intention to release 4K smartphones next year, so 2K seems reasonable.

Camera and Battery

Rumors about the camera put it at 16MP, which is up a few from the S4’s 13MP, but the leaked packaging lists 20MP. Samsung’s new CMOS image sensor will likely show up in the S5, which should lead to sharper images. The packaging promises 1080p capture, but no 4K capture.

If you’re like me, you value battery life above almost anything else, because it doesn’t matter how fancy your phone is: it’s a paperweight if it’s dead. Rumors began circulating last month that the S5’s battery may include new technology that allows it to charge to full in 2 hours. That’s exciting.

Pricing

There’s a lot of speculation surrounding price, with some outlets predicting a price tag of almost $900 USD, but there are too many variables – aluminum or plastic body, possible curved display – to really narrow down an accurate price prediction.

Again, none of this stuff is for certain, but the amount of possible information floating around about the S5 is impressive. Everyone seems to agree that the phone will debut at MWC, so we don’t have long to wait for actual official specs.