Posted Date: 1/21/2013
Galaxy S III Still "Red Hot" but is Galaxy IV on its Way?
By Stephanie Blanchard, Assistant Editor & Lori Castle, Editor in Chief
A new survey from 451 Research's ChangeWave service finds an explosive wave of momentum is catapulting Samsung to an all-time high in the North American
smartphone market.
"Consumer buying intent for Samsung smartphones has been extraordinary to start the year. Considering the Galaxy S III has been out for several months we'd normally expect a slowdown by now — but it’s still red hot," said Paul Carton of 451 Research's ChangeWave service. "We’re also seeing strong interest in Samsung’s large-screen phone — the Galaxy Note II. Super-sized smartphones are taking the industry by storm in 2013."
However, Apple recently added both devices to its ongoing patent lawsuit with Samsung, (Samsung, in turn, added the iPhone 5.) but the suit is not scheduled to go to trial until March 2014, and Apple has lost in its attempt to get the devices banned until then.
While the two companies lob accussations, as is the nature of mobile, the market has moved on and is already talking about the next big thing. So, will they or won't they debut the Samsung Galaxy IV smartphone at the upcoming
Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona? What about a new tablet?
How Will it Be Different?
Not only is that rumor circling around, but specs for the new smartphone are as well. If true, the Galaxy IV will be equipped with a 4.99-inch full HD screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080p.
This is in line with 451’s aforementioned trend of a larger form factor. To that end, a few devices, such as the Sony Xperia Z and the ZTE Grand S, announced at this year's CES, also feature a five-inch full HD screen; and
tablets got bigger too.
Yet, the screen size is not the main source of buzz in this rumor, the release date is, since the Galaxy S III has only been on the market since May 2012. Speculation of a February launch would mean Samsung is lessening it’s time between devices. (
Apple is now known for this).
The Samsung leak likely traces back to The Korea Times, who claimed back in September 2012 that Samsung would unveil its subsequent smartphone at the MWC. Brian Berkley, VP of Samsung Mobile Display, presented display prototypes at the recent CES show, including the flexible OLED, but no mention of the Galaxy IV.
To add fuel to the speculative fire, the Korean Daily is predicting the new smartphone will have advanced wireless charging capability thanks to resonant magnetic coupling. The technology will allow users to charge from a distance, up to 6 1/2 feet. That is a rare feature, and potentially a big draw for the new product.
According to specs published by
GSM Arena, the Galaxy IV features a 13Mp camera and a Super AMOLED screen, and is powered by a quad-core Cortex-A15 processor.
Samsung execs are not responding to the rumors.
New Tablet Perhaps?
Instead of the rumored Galaxy IV, it's possible that Samsung might unveil an 8-inch Galaxy Note tablet at the annual trade show in Barcelona.
The community fansite
SamMobile published specs on the tablet which features a 1280 x 800 display, 2GB of RAM and a 5-megapixel rear camera and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Running on Android 4.2, the tablet will likely debut in two versions: with 3G and WiFi only.