What Does Samsung Celox Have to Offer that iPhone 5’s Rumored Specs Don’t?

If all the specifications are to be believed, the upcoming Samsung Celox could prove to be a potential iPhone killer and create major problems for Apple's smartphone this fall.

Celox recently was unveiled in Germany, where it was called the Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE.

The Celox had been reported to be a Galaxy S2 lookalike, but later research found that although both smartphones boast a similar design, the Celox has much more to offer.

Celox reportedly will arrive with an 8MP rear-facing camera and a 2MP front-facing camera, and will come pre-installed with Android Gingerbread.

The 4G LTE compatible smartphone sports a large 4.5-inch Super AMOLED display with 800x480 screen resolution. It is also powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 processor.

Compared to the Galaxy S2, the Celox is a bit heavier. Celox weighs 4.5 oz. and is 0.36-inch thick. The upcoming smartphone will also be fitted with a 1750 Li-ion battery and will launch via SK Telecom network in Korea.

Early specification rumors reported the iPhone 5 will be powered by the A5 dual-core processor, which currently powers its iPad 2. Although the A5 dual-core chipset can challenge the Galaxy S2 and other NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip-based Android phones, it’s near to impossible to match the power of Celox’s dual-core 1.5GHz chipsets.

Sources stated that Celox has 800MHz LTE support, and will target Europe as both Verizon and AT&T support 700MHz LTE. The smartphone’s features are similar to that of the Samsung Hercules rumored to arrive on the T-Mobile network.

Previous reports stated that Taiwan SemiConductor Manufacturing Co. had started trial production of the Apple A6 processors. It was also reported that the TSMC manufactured A6 chipset will incorporate 3D IC technology, and is in a race with Intel to manufacture a 3D IC chip. EETimes reported that TSMC could deliver processors with 3-D interconnet by the end of 2011

If such is the case, then Apple could further delay the launch of iPhone 5 while the company oufits it with a faster A6 chipset. A previous Computerworld report stated that certain Taiwanese suppliers of Apple claimed they will be starting the production of 25 million iPhone 5 units that would be delivered this year, and even confirming a December release.

The screen size is also a major area of debate as iPhone 5 awaits a release date. While it was reported that Apple will marginally increase its screen-size from the current 3.5 inches to 3.7 inches and it will be an edge-to-edge display occupying the whole face of the phone, Joshua Topolsky of Engadget stated that Apple will not opt for a 4-inch display as increasing the screen size would result in a drop in ppi.

He further stated that anything over 300ppi is considered a retina display. A 3.7-inch screen can have a pixel density of 312, but that’s a drop of 13 ppi from the 326 on the current iPhone 4.

It is also expected that the new iPhone 5 will arrive with an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash as Apple has already ordered 90 percent of its 8MP camera sensors from OmniVision. The Celox, however, has bigger scope for optimization as Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 processor has the capability to support a 16MP camera and the ability to capture and display 1080p stereoscopic 3D video or 8MP stereoscopic still images.

It is also surmised that the Apple-made smartphone may be a 4G LTE compatible iPhone. The reason, as cited by Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek in May, for the exclusion of LTE is due to the Qualcomm LTE chipset that was supposed to go into the iPhone limitation, but failed to achieve sufficient yields.

Although hopes are high about a potential U.S. release, and previously it was also said that a different version of Celox may launch, the smartphone may not arrive. But if it does, Apple may have to be on the lookout.