Samsung CEO Confirms A Faster Galaxy S4 Exists Running LTE Advanced 4G But Doesn’t Say When Or Where It Will Be Available

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (KRX:005935) said Monday it will soon unleash a faster version of its Galaxy S4 smartphone using LTE Advanced 4G, which purports to be at least twice as fast overall as the already speedy standard 4G.

J.K. Shin, CEO of the world’s largest tech company based on revenue, confirmed from the company’s headquarters in Suwon, Korea that the phone exists, though he didn’t say when or where it would make its debut or which carriers would be the first to offer the new version of the world’s most popular smartphone that goes head-to-head against Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq:AAPL) iPhone.

"We'll be the first with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone," Shin told Reuters. Samsung claims that a digital video download that takes 3 minutes on a standard 4G network will take a minute with LTE (Long-Term Evolution) Advanced standard.

Here’s a chart from Reuters showing the projected number of Samsung global smartphone shipments compared to Apple. Samsung is expected to hit 80 million units in the second quarter, according to Gartner and HMC Investments & Securities. That sounds like a lot, but analysts recently downgraded forecasts for Galaxy S4 sales, which has pushed down the company’s stock value in recent weeks.