Samsung Galaxy S III Receives FCC Approval, Lacks LTE Support

Even though earlier this month Samsung confirmed plans to launch its third-generation Galaxy S smartphone in the United States, the company only vaguely hinted to a “summer” release.

Obviously, summer could mean that the Galaxy S III is ready to hit shelves as early as June, but we don’t have any official confirmation yet. However, there are speculations that claim Samsung needed to delay the North American launch of the Galaxy S III in order to successfully launch the European version, which doesn’t come with LTE support.

Although many previously thought the North American variant will be equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chipset that features LTE support, it appears that the Galaxy S III will come with HSPA+ only.

The smartphone has just received FCC’s (Federal Communication Commission) approval and the documents filed indicate the Galaxy S III only supports HSPA+, which would make it fully compatible with AT&T’s network.

Another interesting information that we get from the regulatory label is the fact that Samsung Galaxy S III will be launched in the United States with a high-capacity 2100 mAh Li-Ion battery, which is said to provide users with at least 10 hours of continuous time.

Even if the Galaxy S III that has just been approved by FCC only features HSPA+ support, we believe Samsung will surely come up with an LTE-enabled model as well. The European version of Galaxy S III comes with an Exynos 4212 Quad chipset that features four cores clocked at 1.4 GHz, but lacks LTE. Still, Samsung is currently testing an Exynos 5250 SoC that is said to come with LTE on board. 

Samsung confirmed that this new SoC would enter mass production only in Q3 2012, which makes us wonder whether the company will choose Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 chipset in order to launch the Galaxy S III in North America much faster.

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