Its S III – the newest Galaxy on the block. And it will be here by July, Samsung confirmed this week.
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However the Android Ice Cream Sandwich beaut wont be appearing at World Mobile Congress (WMC) in Barcelona this month, as expected.
No sir, Samsung are planning an iPhone style ‘look at me’ standalone launch, devoid of all the other rivals like HTC and LG, who will be debuting phones at WMC later this month.
However, Sammy will still be at the Barcelona event but sans the highly anticipated follow up to the S II, which remember was released almost a year ago now.
“Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012,” the Korean giant said on Wednesday.
“The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product.”
iPhone 5 V Galaxy S III
So should Apple, whose iPhone was the top selling device in Q4 (selling a whopping 37 million) be worried about the new rival to the 4S? Ah, yes.
The follow up to the cult smartie that was the Galaxy S II looks to be a whopper, powered by a potent 1.4 (or possibly) 1.5 GHz QUAD-core processor and a HD (720 x 1,280) screen, both specs scoring higher than the iPhone 4S.
However, an iPhone 5 could match the S III, rumoured to have a larger 4″ screen, similar quad core engine via Apple’s A5 chip, 4G LTE and Near Field Communications (NFC) for tap and touch payments.
Most importantly, the SIII comes with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the best OS since sliced (or maybe ginger) bread, with faster applications, more intuitive and a new interface. Not much else is known about SIII, which Samsung has kept firmly under the radar.
And i5 could be released around the same time as arch rival Galaxy, at Apple WWDC; kicking off probably June, meaning a major showdown of iOS V Droid could be ahead, as predicted.
Read Samsung Galaxy S3 Coming In April, Quad-Core 12MP Here
While Apple nabbed the top spot for Q4, the Galaxy creator was the overall smartphone leader in 2011, flogging 97.4m Galaxy units including the SII, Ace and Y last year, according to Strategy Analytics.
And the analysts predict it will, once again, be a “two horse” smartphone race between Apple and Samsung in 2012 – meaning a Galaxy Vs iPhone showdown will happen all over again, this year.
“With Samsung is now well positioned alongside Apple in a two-horse race at the forefront of one of the world’s largest and most valuable consumer electronics markets,” says analyst Neil Mawston.
And all is not lost for WMC hitting off on Feb 27th next with other Droids like HTC, LG and Sony Ericsson all showing their wares at the who’s who of the smartphone world.