Note 4 version with Snapdragon 810 and tri-band LTE-A coming to South Korea

We’ve been giving Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 our praises thanks to its super powerful 2.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor. In our full review, we told you that the Note 4 can basically handle anything we throw at it, whether that be graphic-intensive games or multitasking. The phone is about to get even faster, as Samsung has just announced a new Galaxy Note 4 variant with a few welcome upgrades.

The new Note 4 brings LTE Advanced Tri-Band Carrier Aggregation support, boosting the device’s download speeds to up to 300Mbps. Samsung has also upgraded the processor to the Snapdragon 810, Qualcomm’s newest chipset on the market.

Let’s begin with the device’s first improvement, support for LTE Advanced Tri-Band Carrier Aggregation. The current version of the Note 4 offers LTE Advanced (or LTE-A) support with dual-band carrier aggregation, meaning it can combine two frequency bands to reach download speeds up to 150Mbps. Tri-Band Carrier Aggregation means, you guess it, the combination of three bands, resulting in download speeds of up to 300Mbps. The Galaxy Note 4 LTE-A model supports Category 9 Carrier Aggregation, resulting in potential download speeds up to 450Mbps. Category 9 CA isn’t technology that’s caught on quite yet, though Samsung says we may see support for the faster download speeds sometime later in 2015.

Even 300Mbps download speeds are largely theoretical for now. Korean carrier SK Telecom announced today the commercialization of the world’s first Tri-Band Carrier Aggregation network. For users in other countries, typical speeds of 75Mbps are to be expected.

Not only is Samsung improving download speeds, they’re also upgrading the device’s processor. Qualcomm’s newest chipset, the Snapdragon 810, is included in the Note 4 LTE-A. Samsung didn’t make any mention of the upgraded processor in their press release, though according to Anandtech, a very reliable source, the chip is indeed a Snapdragon 810. Details about the octo-core processor can be found here.

Earlier this month, there were rumors that Qualcomm had problems churning out Snapdragon 810 chips, though the company was quick to deny it. With Snapdragon 810 hitting in January on the Note 4 tri-band LTE-A, it looks as Qualcomm will be able to meet demand for the chip when the Galaxy S6, new HTCOne, and other flagships begin landing from February.

So, how do you get your hands on one of these new variants? Unfortunately, Samsung is making the device a South Korea exclusive, at least for now. We’re unsure if the device will be launched outside of the country, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated if we hear anything about the company widening the availability. For residents of South Korea, Samsung is making the device available sometime in January 2015.