Samsung Galaxy S III Demands Special MHL-HDMI Adapter

Samsung has apparently changed the MHL-HDMI connectivity on the Galaxy S III so that existing adapters for the video-output will not work. The issue, first spotted by retailer Clove, means those new Galaxy S III owners who already have an MHL adapter – such as for use with the last-gen Galaxy S II, or the Galaxy Nexus – will seemingly need to buy a new dongle if they want to continue seeing their phone's display on the big screen.

"The Galaxy S3 has a different pin connection so you need a different adapter" Clove writes. "It works in exactly the same way but has the correct pin connections so your S3 display will be shown on a HD monitor or TV."

That new adapter is priced at £24.98 including tax ($39) and, like previous such dongles, has both a microUSB plug to hook up to the phone, an HDMI output for your TV, and a microUSB input for powering both phone and adapter. It's not clear whether it will work on non-GSIII devices.

Samsung's decision to require a specific, new adapter is likely to come as a frustration to owners, especially given MHL is billed as a cross-device standard. We've checked the Galaxy S III with a non-Samsung MHL adapter, and found that the two do not indeed work together.

We've got a request in for more information from Samsung, and will update when we hear more.