Four new phones in a single go? You better believe, as that is exactly what Samsung is doing with the Galaxy Ace 4, Galaxy Core II, Galaxy Young 2 and Galaxy Star 2, budget handsets that have been launched by the company in its ongoing efforts to have a galaxy of phones (pun wholeheartedly intended) in its portfolio. All four devices are powered by Android 4.4 KitKat and Samsung's TouchWiz Essence UX, a stripped down version of TouchWiz that debuted on the Galaxy Ace Style (it is what makes it possible for Samsung to fit KitKat on devices less than 1GB of RAM, and the lack of it on the Galaxy S III is the reason the international version is not getting an update to Android 4.4.)
The Galaxy Core II leads the pack when it comes to specs, which have leaked in the past and include 4.5-inch WVGA display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 768MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear camera, 4GB of internal storage and a microSD slot, and a 2,000 mAh battery, with color options including black and white.
The Galaxy Ace 4 is up next, featuring a 1GHz dual-core processor, 512 MB of RAM, 4-inch WVGA display, 4GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, 5-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, and a 1,800 mAh battery. There is an LTE variant of the Ace 4 as well, which also gets a faster processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, and a higher-capacity 1,800 mAh battery. It will be available in Iris Charcoal and Classic White colors.
Coming up at the bottom are the Galaxy Young 2 and Galaxy Star 2, with the two only differentiated by the lack of a GPS chip and a lower resolution camera on the latter. Their specs include 3.5-inch HVGA displays, 512MB of RAM, 3-megapixel rear camera (2-megapixel on the Star 2), 4GB of internal storage, a microSD slot, and a 1,300 mAh battery. Both handsets share their paint jobs with the Galaxy Ace 4, with Iris Charcoal and Classic White as the options.
Samsung hasn't announced pricing or availability details for these handsets, but you can expect them to be priced pretty low given their modest hardware. All of these are no doubt focused on emerging markets, but as the folks over at Android Central noticed, Samsung seems to be ignoring devices like the Moto E for now, which offer amazing bang for buck and have been selling by the truckload, even in markets like India where they are only available online from a single retailer.
