Samsung has officially launched the highly anticipated LTE-Advanced version of its  Galaxy S4 smartphone, which will pack in the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.

We recently reported that the user manual of the Galaxy S4 LTE-Advanced had leaked online, revealing that the smartphone would feature Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor (clocked at 2.3GHz,) and the smartphone has lived up to the rumored specs.

Samsung announced the LTE-Advanced version of its flagship handset on Wednesday, June 26. The company claims that the Galaxy S4 LTE-A , which has the distinction of being the world's first LTE-Advanced capable smartphone, supports faster network speeds. 

"Samsung Electronics announced the GALAXY S4 LTE-A, accelerating smartphone expectations with advanced multimedia experiences and the fastest downloads, web browsing, multimedia streaming and applications loading," reads the press release. "The world's first commercially available LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) smartphone, Samsung's GALAXY S4 LTE-A combines technology innovations included in the highly acclaimed GALAXY S4 with new advanced features and twice-as-fast network speeds to produce an unparalleled multimedia experience."

"Samsung maintains a unique position for delivering LTE innovations as a provider for the parts, devices and equipment required to deliver next generation 4G LTE services," added JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "The introduction of the GALAXY S4 LTE-A demonstrates Samsung's desire and ability to provide consumers with technological innovations that take advantage of increased network speeds to deliver richer and fuller experiences."

Physically the Galaxy S4 LTE-A resembles sibling Galaxy S4, but will apparently provide speeds of up to 150Mbps. The smartphone is expected to release soon in home ground South Korea and will be available in Blue Arctic and Red Aurora.