Samsung has sensationally backtracked over what processor will be in the UK version of the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.

Although it told Pocket-lint that UK handsets would feature the company's own 1.6GHz octa-core Exynos 5 CPU, during its launch event in New York on 14 March, and reinforced that claim in its press release, it has now been confirmed that we will be getting the Galaxy S4 powered by the 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor instead.

Prompted by an investigation undertaken by mobile blog Omio, Pocket-lint looked further into the allegation that the UK wouldn't get the smartphone it was expecting. Speaking to our contacts at Samsung, we received the following official statement:

"Samsung Galaxy S4 is equipped with a 1.9GHz quad-core processor or a 1.6GHz octa-core processor. The selection of application processor varies by markets," it reads.

"In the UK, the Galaxy S4 will be available as a 4G device with a 1.9GHz quad-core processor."

What effect this will have on overall performance and speed, we're not sure. The handset(s) we went hands-on with in New York were - we're pretty sure - the quad-core ones and they seemed fairly speedy to us. After all, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 is brand new and is only just finding its way into smartphones. It is also very capable.

READ: Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy S4 review

However, we previously understood the benefits of the octa-core processor to be relevant to power management, being able to switch to the second set of four cores in order to offset less power-hungry processes. Many suggested this would help with battery life.

Until Pocket-lint reviews a UK model we can't be sure if this will be an issue or not, or whether the Snapdragon 600 processor is a superior option for different reasons. We certainly shouldn't feel short-changed at this moment in time - but, you know...