Samsung's Galaxy S III Launch Is A Giant Mess


Recommended Posts

Last Wednesday may have been the officially U.S. launch of Samsung's

Galaxy S III

, but carriers seems to be having a lot of trouble shipping the phone on time.

It doesn't help that each carrier already had different pre-order dates for the phone. Now it seems like all of them are having problems fulfilling pre-orders in a timely manner.

And you definitely won't find a Galaxy S III in stores yet.

That means it could be a few more days or weeks before most can get one of the best

Android phones around.

...

So what's going on here? It sounds like there simply aren't enough phones to go around. This could either be due to insanely high demand, or

Samsung simply couldn't make enough to fill store shelves in time for the June launch. Or both. (The U.S. version has slightly different hardware than the international version that launched last month.)

It was a bit worrying at first when we saw each carrier announce different pre-order dates following Samsung's announcement that the Galaxy S III was due to hit the U.S. this month. Carriers seemed to be caught a bit off gaurd, and it's pretty apparent Samsung won't be able to pull off the unified launch it

originally envisioned.

http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-shipping-delays-2012-6

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not good. I would guess it's a huge demand + probably Apple lawsuit + different versions of SIII for different markets.

I still don't understand why they are doing different versions for different markets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd guess there are a few versions but necessary:

S3 - GSM/HSPA+ - GT-i9300 (International)

S3 - GSM/LTE - SGH-i777 (AT&T)

S3-GSM/DCHSPA - (SGX-XXX) T-Mobile

S3 - CDMA/LTE -SGP-XXX (Sprint) XXX-XXXX (Verizon) ? (Cellular One)

S3 - GSM/LTE - Korea

S3 - Japan with TV add-on

I don't really think they expected it to launch on all carriers at the same time in the USA, that's a lot of phones to produce! I mean they are doing 6 carriers total here (USA). Not to metnion the Euro launch and London and all that they planned.

Still trying to decide if I should get the AT&T version or the International. I have SGS2 International now on AT&T's network and I don't really need LTE but I'm hoping to see more about battery life and support for features in the phone by Dev community.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd guess there are a few versions but necessary:

S3 - GSM/HSPA+ - GT-i9300 (International)

S3 - GSM/LTE - SGH-i777 (AT&T)

S3-GSM/DCHSPA - (SGX-XXX) T-Mobile

S3 - CDMA/LTE -SGP-XXX (Sprint) XXX-XXXX (Verizon) ? (Cellular One)

S3 - GSM/LTE - Korea

S3 - Japan with TV add-on

I don't really think they expected it to launch on all carriers at the same time in the USA, that's a lot of phones to produce! I mean they are doing 6 carriers total here (USA). Not to metnion the Euro launch and London and all that they planned.

Still trying to decide if I should get the AT&T version or the International. I have SGS2 International now on AT&T's network and I don't really need LTE but I'm hoping to see more about battery life and support for features in the phone by Dev community.

get the LTE version, if you dont think you will need it then just turn LTE off, but when a time comes that you do need it or you start to get good LTE coverage its very much worth it. When i dont get a good LTE signal on my nexus and it drops down to 3g i dont even feel like using that data anymore, its like going from broadband to dialup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is not a "mess" just Samsung got caught short on devices, but it also reaffirms that it is an extremely in demand handset

I'm still waiting for my T-Mobile store to get any in

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dunno, I think Sprint handled it well so far. They noted that there would be delays, but that those who preordered would get their's just dandy. Friend of mine got hers on release day via shipping and is loving it so far. :p

Dunno about the other carriers though, but I've heard Verizon has had issues mostly. Considering how much people pay to be under Verizon, it's rather disheartening if you're one of their customers I would think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

get the LTE version, if you dont think you will need it then just turn LTE off, but when a time comes that you do need it or you start to get good LTE coverage its very much worth it. When i dont get a good LTE signal on my nexus and it drops down to 3g i dont even feel like using that data anymore, its like going from broadband to dialup.

With my S2 International, I get 11Mbps on HSPA+ (MAX) on AT&T so i can't say it's "slow" for me but I guess i'm not doing tons on my plan plus i prefer mobile web pages rather than full ones on my device. The rest of the stuff is via Apps so it only pulls in pertinent info as well instead of reloading the whole page as well.

The main reason I was thinking of going AT&T version is for the supposedly better battery life with dual-core and the A15 S4 Krait (LTE not in CT yet i don't think even though we are part of the NYC market :D). If there's no real benefit after hacking and turning off the LTE radio then might as well just get the full version as I'll be buying it non-contract price also. I'm on a AT&T MVNO so i doubt i'd have access to their shiny new LTE network anyways :D Might test it in the city next time i'm there to see though.

Oddly enough though, when Apple has a shortage it's BIG news and makes people even go more crazy, actually (IMO) that's probably part of the marketing. Only set up for X amount knowing there will be a shortage for some days/weeks and ride out the media frenzy! :alien:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.