The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be coming to the United States on T-Mobile on May 1, according to the company's CMO.
"We are really proud to be extending our partnership with Samsung and to be a launch partner on the Galaxy S4. In fact, the Galaxy S4 comes in May on the T-Mobile network. And I'll tell you, actually, it comes about May 1st," Mike Sievert, T-Mobile's chief marketing officer said at the mobile company's UnCarrier event in New York on Mar. 26.
T-Mobile also announced it's official switch away from mobile contracts to pay-as-you-go plans, which it has been hinting at for months.
Early speculation assumed that would mean an end to subsidized smartphone prices, but T-Mobile is continuing the practice, offering high-end phones for as little as $99 up front, with a $20 payment each month that goes toward the price of the phone.
The BlackBerry Z10, which is available on T-Mobile today, costs $99 up front, as will the HTC One when it is released, likely sometime in May.
T-Mobile didn't reveal a price for the Galaxy S4, but the company could charge as little as $100 initially, particularly if it seeks to undercut the pricing structure of its contract-using competitors.
While Sievert seemed confident about the May 1 date, I spoke to a Samsung rep who demonstrated the S4 for me (I wasn't allowed to touch it), and he stressed that the official Samsung line was that the S4 would be available in the second quarter. While that may just be corporate vagueness, it's also a hint that maybe the May 1 date isn't completely set in stone.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 1.6 GHz eight-core Exynos 5 Octa processor or a 1.9 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (depending on country), 2 GB of RAM, a 5-inch 1920x1080 Full HD AMOLED display at 441 ppi, a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video, a 2 megapixel front facing camera, internal storage between 16 and 64 GB, an SD card slot that can accommodate an additional 64 GB, a polycarbonate body, Smart Pause and floating touch tech and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
Check back for the latest info on the Galaxy S4 as it becomes available.