Samsung Galaxy S5 to miss metal body after all?
Ahead of the eagerly awaited Samsung Galaxy S5 release date, the Korean manufacturer has hinted that, despite countless rumours, the upcoming flagship phone will not feature a premium metal design after all.
Speaking during CES 2014, the company has claimed that the popularity of the iPhone 5S and HTC One will not force it into launching its own metal bodied phone.
Speaking exclusively with TrustedReviews, Kyle Brown, Head of Technical Product Management within Samsung’s IM division which covers smartphones, tablets and wearables, told us: "I don’t believe Samsung will go down the route of making a metal device just because other manufacturers are.”
Although failing to reference the Samsung Galaxy S5 by name, Brown has hinted that while a metal bodied phone is seemingly off the cards, the company is looking at ways to improve the durability of its portable products.
“I think that balance has to be found,” he told us. “Samsung as a business is always looking at what the best materials are to get the right offering to the customer.”
Discussing the company’s current favouring of plastic materials he added: “Samsung is obviously looking at the way other manufacturers have made that premium feel. I think at the same time that the answer to that is that our devices are very light, very durable and we can manufacturer them in a way that we can give a great offering to our customers.”
While a flurry of recent Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours have claimed a metal chassis design will be introduced, Brown’s comments have hinted that a waterproof and scratch-resistant finish more akin to that on the Sony Xperia Z1 might be more likely.
“I think something that has been lost over this whole process is that if you have a really premium feeling device you are going to want to protect it, so you put a case over the top of it and then it doesn’t look premium anymore,” Brown said.
He added: “You want to have a device that justifies the price tag, but I don’t see why you would want to wrap it in something cheap to keep it safe, it should be designed like that to keep it safe.”
Recent Samsung Galaxy S5 reports have hinted that the S4 follow-on will be unveiled during the year’s first quarter, with the Android 4.4 KitKat powered handset to land running a 5.2-inch display, quad-core CPU and a new user-interface.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy S4 review
