Samsung already unveiled the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus including their new features like facial recognition, an iris scanner, and Bixby the digital assistant. Now, the devices are also said to become the fastest smartphones with Gigabit LTE.
The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus to be shipped will have 2.45 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, the latest and fastest processor from Qualcomm. According to International Business Time, Snapdragon 835 will give S8/S8 Plus the capacity to connect to so-called Gigabit LTE-class speeds which can support live 360-degree video streaming.
Gigabit LTE is a supercharged version of the 4G LTE connection that allows the Samsung Galaxy S8/S8 Plus to have the internet as fast as 300 megabits per second or about 18 times faster than the average speeds of T-Mobile and Verizon. It could also download a 2-hour movie in just a span of 15 seconds.
The Gigabit LTE is not yet ready as of the moment. The US carriers like T-Mobile are still working on it. But in a press conference at CES 2017 in January, John Legere the T-Mobile CEO vowed that they will be the first to officially deliver Gigabit LTE this 2017.
Sprint is also working on acquiring Gigabit LTE to different cities that will start in New Orleans. AT&T, on the other hand, poised to deliver the first 5G Evolution in markets of Austin and Indianapolis in a few months.
Meanwhile, in the Australian market, Telstra already set-up a running Gigabit LTE network. However, it requires specific hardware like X16 modem. When the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus will be available on the market this April 21, 2017, both devices will run on its standalone X16 to able to get Telstra's Gigabit LTE network right away.