Analyst Stands by Forecast That 2015 Will See Debut of UHD Smartphones

That’s because the Galaxy Alpha does have the capability to create UHD videos but it doesn’t have a UHD “primary display,” Teng told us. “There are actually a handful of devices less known by North America consumers that have specs just like that.” Teng early in 2014 began compiling a list of devices introduced commercially that are “capable of creating UHD videos and playback on an UHD external display,” like a UHD TV, she said. All use 1080p primary displays with 13-megapixel or better cameras, she said. They are the Acer Liquid S2, the LG G Pro 2, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5 and the Sony Xperia Z2, she said.

Samsung’s Galaxy Alpha, however, has only a 720p display, Teng said. But since the Galaxy Alpha has a 13-megapixel camera, “theoretically it can produce videos and pictures with enough pixels to fill up” an external UHD display, she said. “To create and playback an UHD video to an external device, though, the device needs a compatible encoder so the external device knows how to uncompress the video."

Though the Galaxy Alpha’s spec sheet lists its Octa Core applications processor in only the most obscure terms ("Quad 1.8GHz + Quad 1.3GHz"), Teng is certain it uses the Octa Exynos 5430 processor sourced from Samsung Semiconductor, she said. Samsung representatives didn’t immediately comment when asked to confirm that the Octa Exynos 5430 processor will be built into the Galaxy Alpha and whether all markets around the world will have it. Though the Galaxy Alpha’s spec sheet lists no HEVC (H.265) functionality on the smartphone, the Octa Exynos 5430 builds in an HEVC hardware encoder to ensure that video captured on the smartphone’s camera “would be compatible with the external device” with HEVC decoder functionality, Teng said.

Teng stands by her February forecast that smartphones with true UHD displays will reach consumers beginning next year, and that global shipments of UHD smartphones will reach 23 million by the end of 2015, she told us. If that forecast holds, UHD smartphones will be just over 5 percent of total 2015 smartphone shipments in North America and Japan in 2015, and just under 5 percent in Western Europe, she said.

All told, smartphones with HD and higher resolutions will be more than half of global shipments in 2014, up from 29 percent in 2013, Teng said. “Market growth for smartphones with high-definition screens is being fueled by increasingly affordable application processors, which along with increased production of high-resolution smartphone displays are enabling brands to provide greater resolution and lower power consumption at lower prices,” she said. “In the maturing smartphone ecosystem, consumers can expect far better visual performance and improved gaming experience."

Sprint is one carrier that buys into prognostications that true UHD smartphones will enter the market next, said David Owens, senior vice president-product. “You're going to start seeing 4K in 2015,” Owens told us when we asked if Sprint plans on “pushing” UHD smartphones next year. “You'll see the processor support. It’s in our roadmap, but ‘pushing’ is probably a little strong.” Carrier aggregation would be required for 4K for more bandwidth to handle the higher bit rates, he said. He defined carrier aggregation as blending two of the fibers in a pipeline together to provide faster throughput, and that the best use for carrier aggregation will be multiscreen video applications, he said, “or things like 4K.” Other carriers didn’t respond to queries about their possible UHD smartphone plans.