Samsung’s Galaxy S5 with 4G competes directly with iPhone 5s at Rs 53,500

Following the lead of LG, South Korean electronics giant Samsung has launched its first 4G-compatible flagship in India. LG if you recall, launched the 4G version of G2 in India and now the Galaxy S5 with LTE support for the India bands has been brought to market.

It has been priced at a hefty Rs 53,500, which puts in the same league as the iPhone 5s, which also is a 4G phone in India.  The 4G version of the S5 will go on sale in India from tomorrow, July 20. “We expect the 4G version to catch the imagination of technology enthusiasts and professionals, who demand superior smartphones for their heavy multimedia content consumption,” said Asim Warsi, vice president (marketing, mobile & IT), Samsung India, in a press statement.

The Galaxy S5 4G device will also come with the Rs 10,000 upgrade offer to allow consumers to upgrade to the 4G device. The device will be available in all 4G service enabled markets in India from 20 July onwards. Galaxy S5 4G will be available in Copper Gold, Charcoal Black and Shimmery White colour options.

Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S5 3G was launched in India in April, and remains one of the best phones you could buy right now,  despite the presence of the HTC One M8 (which is also getting 4G support) and the Sony Xperia Z2. The timing of the launch is curious though, as it comes just a day before LG launches the G3 in India. Clearly, Samsung wants the Galaxy S5 to remain in the limelight, which explains the launch of the 4G version.

Samsung has tied up with Airtel for data plans for buyers of the new model. Existing and new Airtel 4G subscribers will get 5GB 4G data per month free for two months, however, you will not be able to use the 4G in all circles, as the telecom provider has only now started bringing it to more circles.

The Galaxy S5 4G is powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC seen in the 3G model. It’s clocked at 2.5 Ghz processor and the device  supports eight 4G LTE bands. In addition to these, the 4G variant also has the same software features such as Download Booster for combining 4G and Wi-Fi speeds for large downloads.