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From today's perspective, the Galaxy S4 doesn't seem like a big deal. But back in 2013, the Galaxy S4 was all the hubbub. And the hype was warranted, as the S4 was the first to introduce many features that later became standard across Samsung phones and even devices from other brands.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let's have a quick recap of the old specs. Here's what the Galaxy S4 had to offer:
The Galaxy S4 had a plastic back and frame. Unlike previous models, it lacked an FM radio. And unlike more modern phones, the Galaxy S4 didn't have a fingerprint scanner or an IP dust and water resistance rating. But that wasn't a big deal in 2013, because nobody knew what they were missing.
The Galaxy S4 was the first Samsung phone to boast a 1080p display. The S4 variant released in June 2013 (GT-i9506) was also the first commercially available phone to boast LTE Advanced capabilities.
The Galaxy S4 was also Samsung's first smartphone whose selfie camera could record 1080p videos. Some newer phones from other brands, such as the Xiaomi 13 Ultra introduced this week, haven't overcome the 1080p selfie recording ceiling even today.
And speaking of the camera experience, the Galaxy S4 was the first in the series to break the 10MP main camera resolution barrier, as it boasted a 13MP sensor — a big upgrade from the Galaxy S3's 8MP camera. Of course, nowadays, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a bonkers 200MP primary camera.
And once again, for the first time ever, the Galaxy S4 allowed users to capture shots using the rear and front-facing cameras simultaneously through the “Dual Shot” picture-in-picture mode. Other interesting modes the S4 adopted (some from the Galaxy Camera) include:
And to top it all off, the Galaxy S4 was the first in the series (even ahead of the iPhones of its time) to have dedicated video recording and photo capture buttons in the camera viewfinder. All phones before the S4 came along required users to switch between a photo or video mode. What a dreadful notion… Today, some of these quality-of-life improvements are expected. But we shouldn't forget that we got to this point gradually, with each new generation of phones.
Also worth noting is that the Galaxy S4 was the first in the series to boast an IR blaster that would allow it to become a universal remote for many devices.
And finally, the Galaxy S4 is one of the only two Samsung phones to have shipped with a built-in thermometer and a hydrometer sensor. The other device was the Galaxy Note 3, which we may take a closer look at later this year on its 10th anniversary. Stay tuned for that.
Before One UI, there was TouchWiz. And when it came to smart software features embedded into TouchWiz for the Galaxy S4, Samsung had some pretty wild ideas, many of which haven't stood the test of time. Here are a few:
The Galaxy S4 represented one of the biggest leaps in Samsung's S-line history. Aside from a handful of meaningful hardware upgrades, the Galaxy S4 also introduced tons of clever software features and new ways to interact with the phone. And even though some of these features were rather gimmicky and not necessarily all that useful, Android smartphone users lapped them up. Even US President Barack Obama is said to have used a Galaxy S4 at one point.
Samsung sold 10 million Galaxy S4 units through pre-orders in the first two weeks. In two months, Samsung shipped more than 20 million Galaxy S4 smartphones. And by the end of the first six months on the market, Samsung had sold 40 million Galaxy S4 phones.
The Galaxy S4 is now known as one of the best-selling phones of all time. Samsung is estimated to have sold a total of 70 million units. As a result, the phone outsold even the iPhone 4S released in 2011 (~60 million), the iPhone X in 2017 (~63 million), and the iPhone 4 in 2010 (~50 million). It also outsold most Samsung phones, except for a few, such as the 2009 Samsung E1100 feature phone (~150 million).