Samsung testing LTE model of Galaxy S4 mini (GT-I9197) in India?

Samsung is the leading smartphone manufacturer in India, but none of the company’s phones support LTE connectivity in the country. However, with India set to get its first LTE networks in the coming months, it’s a lucrative market that will see consumers demanding LTE smartphones as time goes by (in fact, the Galaxy S5 has numerous bad reviews on India’s leading online retailer due to the fact that its Exynos chip does not support true LTE connectivity.) According to import tracking site Zauba, Samsung recently shipped the Galaxy S4 mini LTE to India for testing, hinting that it is in the process of testing devices with the LTE networks in the country.

In India, only one carrier (Airtel) currently offers an LTE network, but the issue is that India uses the TD-LTE band, which is currently only supported by the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c (the HTC One M8 supports it as well, though HTC has said that it will need a software update to actually work on local LTE networks.) The Galaxy S4 mini LTE that Samsung is testing in India won’t be sold in the country, but the company could be testing the device with custom hardware so that it can prepare the launch of LTE devices in the future.

Source, Thanks Mayank!