Samsung Galaxy S III, looking back: the 2012 UK launch, the colour delays and what you can still do with one

Updated September 2026 · first publication, written from Samsung's own 2012 releases and from network pages read on 14 September 2026

Samsung announced the Galaxy S III in London on 3 May 2012 and it reached UK shops at the end of that month; GSMArena reported on release day, 29 May 2012, that it was already the most pre-ordered Android phone on Vodafone UK to that point (read 14 September 2026). One found in a drawer in 2026 is a different proposition: a 2012 handset stuck on Android 4.3 or 4.4.4, on a network rebuilt underneath it since.

Arrived from a 2012 UK post about the black Galaxy S III at £499.95, or about the launch delays? The launch and the colours and the delays are the first two sections. If the phone is in your hand, skip to the UK networks in 2026. Our answer and the table ↓

London, 3 May 2012

Samsung's own announcement is datelined London, 3 May 2012, and calls the handset the smartphone designed for humans and inspired by nature (Samsung Mobile Press, read 14 September 2026). The same release gives the shipping promise in one line: the Galaxy S III will be available from the end of May in Europe before rolling out to other markets globally.

Samsung later put a date on that: its newsroom article of 14 January 2013 names 29 May 2012 as the official global release date announced at Samsung Mobile Unpacked (Samsung Global Newsroom, read 14 September 2026). GSMArena reported on 29 May 2012 that the phone had gone on sale that day in 28 countries at once (GSMArena news, read 14 September 2026).

For British buyers the numbers were printed a week earlier. IBTimes UK, published 21 May 2012, wrote that the 3G Galaxy S III would reach Europe on 30 May, that only the 16GB and 32GB versions were offered at first, and that the 16GB model was available SIM-free for £499 (IBTimes UK, read 14 September 2026). The same round-up lists the UK sellers of the day: O2, Vodafone, Three, T-Mobile, Orange, Tesco Mobile, Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4u. Those are 2012 prices on their own date.

Two colours at launch, then more

The launch release is explicit about the finishes: Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, with more colours promised later (Samsung Mobile Press, 3 May 2012, read 14 September 2026). Pebble Blue is the one that went wrong.

Samsung told the story itself. Two weeks before the 29 May 2012 release date, the first Pebble Blue stock was in final preparation for shipment to four European countries when Samsung decided not to ship it. The reason, in Samsung's own words: the mass production process for the Pebble Blue battery cover did not perfectly reproduce the S III's fundamental design concept creating an aesthetic that was inconsistent with the planned product. Marble White stock bought about three days while the finish was redone (Samsung Global Newsroom, published 14 January 2013, read 14 September 2026).

That is the mechanism behind the shortage UK pre-order customers ran into through late May and June 2012. A post on the old androiduknewsetc.com blog, whose surviving URL reads galaxy-s-iii-delayed-lots-hacked-off and is dated May 2012, is one of the links that lands on this page; the Wayback Machine answered HTTP 404 for that URL on 14 September 2026, so the account above is Samsung's own and nothing is attributed to the post.

The range then widened. Samsung announced four more finishes on 28 August 2012, Amber Brown, Garnet Red, Sapphire Black and Titanium Grey, under the footnote Availability of colours will vary depending on the country and carrier/retailer (Samsung Mobile Press, read 14 September 2026). The GSMArena page for the GT-I9300, read 14 September 2026, lists the full set as Pebble Blue, Marble White, Amber Brown, Garnet Red, Sapphire Black, Titanium Grey and La Fleur.

Ahead of that, a UK news post on androiduknewsetc.com, 13 August 2012 by Chris Spackman, reported that retailer MobileFun had put a black Galaxy S III up for pre-order at £499.95, a whole £10 more than the white version, and that it would be the same as the Pebble Blue and White version in every way just the colour (archived copy, read 14 September 2026). That is history, recorded on its own date, and not a price to expect anywhere in 2026.

The 3G model, GT-I9300

GT-I9300 · 4.8in Super AMOLED, 720 x 1280 · Exynos 4412 Quad, four Cortex-A9 cores at 1.4GHz · 1GB RAM · 16, 32 or 64GB with a microSDXC slot · removable 2100mAh battery · GSM and HSPA, no LTE · stereo FM radio · Android 4.0.4 at launch · 133g · read from the GSMArena specification page, 14 September 2026

Two items on that line matter again in 2026: the battery comes out, so a dead unit can be revived for the price of a cell, and the storage takes a card, so music can be loaded without touching an account.

The software was Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz on top. Samsung marketed two features hard: S Voice, the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words, and Smart Stay, which kept the screen lit by having the front camera identify your eyes (Samsung Mobile Press, 3 May 2012, read 14 September 2026).

The 4G model, GT-I9305

GT-I9305, also sold as Galaxy S III LTE · announced and released September 2012 · same 4.8in panel and same Exynos 4412 Quad · 1GB or 2GB RAM depending on the variant · 16GB with microSDXC · LTE on bands 3, 7 and 20 · no FM radio · Android 4.1.1 at launch · 131g · read from the GSMArena specification page, 14 September 2026

The GT-I9305 is the model that matters if the phone is to do anything on a network in 2026, because it is the only one of the two with a 4G radio at all (GSMArena specification pages for both models, read 14 September 2026). Check the model number before assuming which you have: it is printed under the battery and shown in Settings, About device.

The Galaxy S III shipped on Android 4.0.4, and Android 4.2 was skipped: SamMobile wrote on November 2013 that Samsung never released a 4.2 build for the Galaxy S III or the Galaxy Note II, and described the new Android 4.3 firmware as the successor to Android 4.1.2, which is the Jelly Bean build the phone was on until then. The same report says the rollout was going out in phases and would be slower on carrier-branded handsets, because in SamMobile's account the carrier has to clear the update first (SamMobile, 4 November 2013, read 14 September 2026).

That is where the two models part company. The GSMArena page for the GT-I9300, read 14 September 2026, lists its software as Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), 4.3 (Jelly Bean), with no later official release. The page for the GT-I9305 lists Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean), 4.3 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to 4.4.4 (KitKat). So the 4G model reached KitKat officially and the 3G model did not, worth knowing before you go looking for firmware.

That carrier-approval step is why carrier-branded handsets waited longer than SIM-free ones, which is what SamMobile reported in November 2013, read 14 September 2026. For the modern version, our page on how to update your Android version covers the menus, and what to do when the updates stop covers reading a patch date.

The 3G switch-off, network by network

Every UK operator has retired 3G, and the GT-I9300 has no 4G radio.

• EE: We switched off our 3G network during January and February 2024, and 2G closure begins from May 2029 (EE 2G and 3G switch-off page, read 14 September 2026).
• Vodafone: the switch-off completed in the week of its press release of 27 February 2024, which says Vodafone UK has successfully switched off its legacy 3G network across the UK (Vodafone UK News Centre, read 14 September 2026).
• Three: the shutdown took place on the morning of 27 November 2025, announced by VodafoneThree on 15 December 2025 (VodafoneThree, read 14 September 2026).
• O2, and the brands on its network: its help page says most of the 3G network has now been switched off across the UK and adds that some areas may still get a 3G signal during the early part of 2026, wording the page has not revised since its last update of 22 June 2026, and it confirms that giffgaff, Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile customers are affected too, because those providers use its network (O2 help, read 14 September 2026).

In practice: a GT-I9300 gets no mobile data at all, and calls and texts fall back to 2G where a network still runs it. EE also warns on the page quoted above that Phones and tablets connected to a 2G network will not receive emergency alerts, reason enough not to give one to somebody as their only phone.

A GT-I9305 gets 4G data. Whether it can still carry a call is not settled by any source this page could find: the GSMArena specification page for the GT-I9305, read 14 September 2026, records no VoLTE or 4G Calling entry either way, this page found no UK operator page that names the handset, and O2 publishes an interactive compatibility checker rather than a list, and Samsung released no firmware for it later than Android 4.4.4. What the operators do publish is the consequence: EE lists a 4G non-VoLTE device or a device that doesn't support 4G Calling among the things that will lose mobile service completely when its 2G network closes from May 2029, and O2 tells Pay As You Go customers that a phone or SIM without 4G Calling may lose the ability to make and receive calls once 3G is switched off in your area. Treat calls on a GT-I9305 as unproven, and check one on the SIM you mean to use before relying on it. Our page on how to turn on Wi-Fi calling on Android explains the feature at issue, and the UK network apps guide covers what each operator lets you check.

Android 4.3 and 4.4.4 sit outside the supported range of almost everything. Google's developer blog said on 24 July 2023 that KitKat devices, meaning API levels 19 and 20, will not receive versions of the Play Services APK beyond 23.30.99 (Android Developers Blog, read 14 September 2026). Android 4.3 on the GT-I9300 is older still. In practice the Play Store, Google account sign-in and anything leaning on current certificates will be unreliable or will refuse outright.

What still works is whatever runs locally and asks nothing of a server: music from a microSD card, the camera, the FM radio on the GT-I9300, a torch, an alarm clock, old games installed from a file. What does not is the category that matters: banking, current browsers and the messaging apps EE names on its switch-off page.

Security is short. Samsung's security update scope page, read 14 September 2026, sets out which Galaxy models receive monthly, quarterly and biannual firmware security updates, and no Galaxy S III variant appears on it. Do not sign a bank, a work email or a payment method into one. Where a household phone has to be trustworthy, the UK buying guide sets out how to pick one still getting patches at the end of the decade.

Community builds need an honest answer. The LineageOS wiki pages for both models, read 14 September 2026, carry the same line: the device is no longer maintained, with a build guide offered for developers that would like to make private builds, or even restart official support (i9300 and i9305). That is not a promise of anything. Unofficial builds circulate, carry no accountable maintainer, and flashing one wipes the phone and can leave it unbootable.

People do still buy these, usually to replace a dead one or as a keepsake. Four checks before money moves.

• Check which model it is. The model number is printed on the label under the back cover and battery, and repeated in Settings, About device. GT-I9300 is the 3G one with no mobile data left; GT-I9305 is the 4G one. A listing that says only Galaxy S3 has told you nothing.
• Check the IMEI against a blocklist. Dial *#06# to display the IMEI, then run it through a device history service before you pay. CheckMEND, read 14 September 2026, advertises Get your first check FREE! and says it checks global sources of used device history, including data from police, insurers, retailers and networks (CheckMEND).
• Look at the battery, not the screen. A lithium cell of this age can swell. Take the cover off, lay the battery flat and spin it: one that rocks or spins is deformed and belongs in recycling, not a charger. Our guide to checking battery health on Android covers what the software can tell you.
• Agree what it is for. As a network phone it is a poor buy in 2026; as an offline player or a shelf piece it is a fine one.

The Galaxy S III was an excellent phone and it is now a museum piece with a card slot.

Checked 14 September 2026: first publication, deliberately thin, written to answer the old androiduknewsetc.com links that point here. Every source behind a price, a figure, a policy claim or a store listing was re-opened on 14 September 2026 in a desktop browser and each read date on this page reflects that pass: Samsung Mobile Press, Samsung Global Newsroom, Samsung's security update scope page, GSMArena, IBTimes UK, SamMobile, EE, Vodafone, VodafoneThree, O2, the Android Developers Blog and the LineageOS wiki. Three corrections: the SamMobile line on carrier approval is paraphrased, not quoted, because that article's wording differs; the O2 sentence carries the Pay As You Go scope it has on O2's page; and the flat claim that the GT-I9305 has no 4G Calling is replaced by what the sources record, which is nothing either way. Named here because the changelog is the only place it may be named: the Wayback Machine answered HTTP 404 on 14 September 2026 for the May 2012 post about the launch delays, so nothing is attributed to it. The update-timing and buying links point at existing pages until /when-will-my-android-phone-get-the-update-uk/ and /where-to-buy-an-android-phone-uk/ are live; repoint both next pass, with the 2012 UK contract deals and the S III mini.