New Samsung Galaxy S4 Black

Following months of rumours, the release date for the Samsung Galaxy S4 could be just around the corner – Samsung has sent out invites to ‘come and meet the next Galaxy’ at an event in New York on March 14^th.

The event, hosted at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall, will be live streamed on the firm’s YouTube Channel.

Samsung is planning to unveil the new Samsung Galaxy S4 to the public in Times Square alongside the official launch.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 made a case for the Android operating system like no phone before it. It picked up the T3 Gadget Award for Best Smartphone of the Year 2012 and regularly tops lists of the best smartphones available on the market.

We’ve scoured the web to bring you the latest news, rumours and speculations about the Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung Galaxy S4 – Display

Samsung has confirmed it is working on flexible displays and rumours are already circulating that the Korean giant is planning to utilise this technology for the Galaxy S4.

Flexible displays are "foldable, rollable, wearable and more, [and] will allow for a high degree of durability through their use of a plastic substrate that is thinner, lighter and more flexible than conventional LCD technology," a Samsung spokesperson told the BBC.

The flexible OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen on the Galaxy S4 would also likely be Full HD with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 or higher and would be a full five inches across - which is encroaching on Samsung Galaxy Note II territory.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 could sport a larger 4.99-inch Full-HD display and come with a much smaller bezel after what is being claimed to be an official press shot of the Galaxy SIV was leaked.

The leaked image was sent to SamMobile and came with a range of specs which suggest that Samsung will be launching a phone to take on both the current generation of the iPhone and also Apple's upcoming iPhone 6.

Samsung Galaxy S4 – Specs

We've not been short of Samsung Galaxy S4 spec rumours over the last couple of months.

There are suggestions the Samsung Galaxy S4 will have 802.11ac WiFi technology – or 5G WiFiconnections. This is supposed to provide browsing speeds roughly equatable with a wired connection.

Apparently, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will sport a Broadcom BCM4335 chip that incorporates the 802.11ac WiFi capacity along with Bluetooth 4.0 and an FM radio.

According to Korean website Ddaily, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will arrive toting a quad-core Exynos processor built on the 28nm microarchitecture standard. Essentially, this is a smaller, faster Exynos (Samsung’s own custom processors) than is currently tucked away inside the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Newer processors, along with increased speed, focus on improving efficiency between cores. This should mean that the Samsung Galaxy S4 can boast more processes and a longer battery life than we’ve previously seen in a handheld.

Other specs include a 13MP rear-facing camera and, of course, the aforementioned 1080p screen.

In terms of browsing speed, a new rumour suggests the Samsung Galaxy S4 will arrive with 802.11ac WiFi - also known as 5G WiFi. This new WiFi technology is aimed at providing wireless speeds equatable with a standard wired connection.

According to androidgeeks, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will arrive with a Broadcom BCM4335 chip that features 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and an FM radio.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 may come armed with company's brand new Exynos Octa eight-core processor, if recent benchmarking tests are to be believed.

It might sound a bit of a stretch but bear with us – model numbers SHV-E300S and GT-I9500, which have previously been mentioned as identifiers for the Galaxy S4 in previous speculation, have shown up in screenshots taken from the AnTuTu benchmarking app.

The screenshots reveal a 1.8GHz processor, which is in line with the next-generation eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chip Samsung is known to be working on.

As well as more power and speed, it is also thought to offer longer-lasting battery life.

Samsung Galaxy S4 predictions

Some believe the phone will be more like the Galaxy Note 2 phablet, rather than the Galaxy S3.

Charles Golvin, a mobile devices expert with research firm Forrester told T3: “I don't expect the screen to exceed 5 inches and, while I can't offer specifics, I do expect a modified industrial design — more like the Galaxy Note 3 than the S3.” 

Golvin says other aspects of the phone will be debated until the launch event in New York on March 14, but he expects better battery performance and further display and camera improvements. Front facing speakers were also drawn out as possible features.

“Samsung has been at the forefront in terms of specs, and I expect that will continue. It's not clear whether the S4 will carry Samsung's octo-core processor or a Qualcomm quad core, but I expect a combination of processor, 2 GB RAM minimum, and expanded battery to provide high performance with extended battery life.”

“The other areas of hardware development will be in the camera, both still and video, a 1080p HD display as well as audio, perhaps with front facing speakers.”

Ramon Llamas, the lead mobile researcher at IDC says the Galaxy S4 launch will ‘surprise and delight’, but that it won’t be down to the hardware improvements, claiming the specs race is all-but-over.

He told T3: “I think Samsung will surprise and delight people come March 14.”

“For me it’s not going to be the specs that surprise. The fact that you have a brilliant five-inch screen, the fact that you have LTE, and the latest version of Android is not big news anymore. Everyone does that.”

“It’s about what are you going to do on top of that. What innovation will we see? What are they going to do on top of Android?”

“It is already is popularising multi screen usage on your device. There are no other smartphones that are doing that. That gets your smartphone to be that much more like a computer. What’s next?”

Llamas predicts Samsung will integrate new software features that will make better use of the camera sensor, beyond taking pictures, and expects S-Voice to improve exponentially in the latest generation device.

“There’s a very select few companies that you don’t underestimate. Apple is one, Samsung is clearly another,” he added.

“Take a look at the track record. They didn’t announce the Galaxy S4 at CES – the so-called Super Bowl of Technology. They said “no” to MWC and said “we’re going to have our own event.”

“You don’t have your own event for the sake of it. You’re doing it to have that time all to yourself and get everyone’s attention.

“If they’re going to continue with ‘The Next Big Thing Is Here’ campaign, that puts pressure on you to make sure you are actually delivering the next big thing. It can’t be incremental updates and bigger screen size. It has to be more than that.”

Samsung Galaxy S4 – release date

As stated above, Samsung has more or less slated the date for the Samsung Galaxy S3's launch as March 14th.

A rumour reported to Sammobile from a "trusted insider" at Samsung pegs the Galaxy S4 release for March 15, 2013. Apparently, the handset will then go on sale in the second week of April, with Europe getting first dibs.

We’ll keep you updated with any new Galaxy S4 shaped rumours that come to pass. But in the meantime you can fill up your Samsung cravings with ourSamsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Mini and Samsung Galaxy Note 2reviews.