Samsung's mid-range Galaxy Grand smartphone has received an unexpected refresh, gaining a quad-core processor to bring the device closer to the performance of its Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 brethren.

Designed as a mid-range alternative to Samsung's better-known handsets, the Galaxy Grand has a 5in display - placing it directly between the 4.8in Galaxy S3 and 5.5in Galaxy Note 2. Sadly, the screen is limited to a 480x800 resolution - and that is not going to change in the updated Galaxy Grand, Samsung has confirmed.

What will be updated is the processor: instead of the 1.2GHz dual-core processor available on the original Galaxy Grand, Samsung has fitted the upgraded model with a far more powerful quad-core processor running at 1.4GHz. This is backed up by the same 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage as its predecessor, with the same support for adding up to 64GB of additional storage with a micro-SD card.

An additional feature of the upgraded model is Near Field Communications (NFC) support with S Beam and Android Beam compatibility, allowing the handset to quickly transfer information to other NFC-equipped smartphones, tablets or peripheral devices - or, in countries where it's supported, to make contactless payments at point-of-sale terminals.

Thus far, Samsung has only announced the new quad-core Galaxy Grand for its native Korea, where it will be available with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and support for the T-DMB broadcast television standard. A version without T-DMB for international markets is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress event next month, but thus far Samsung hasn't given an official launch date or pricing.