Samsung confirmed the Galaxy S III for all five major US carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and U.S. Cellular. Launches were set to begin in June at a starting price of $199, with exact dates and carrier-specific pricing to be announced individually. It was the first time five major US carriers simultaneously launched the same device.
The US version differed from the global model in one key way: Verizon’s variant used a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core 1.5GHz processor rather than the quad-core Exynos, due to LTE modem integration. All other hardware was consistent: a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 2, 2GB RAM, 16GB or 32GB storage with microSD expansion, a removable 2100mAh battery, Android 4.0 with TouchWiz, and the full suite of Galaxy S III software features including S Voice, Smart Stay, S Beam, AllShare, Pop Up Play, and an 8-megapixel camera with zero shutter lag and burst mode.
Carrier launch updates added shortly after announcement: Verizon pre-sales began June 6; T-Mobile and Sprint set June 21 launch dates; U.S. Cellular’s version arrived in July.
