Report: Samsung to announce Galaxy S IV March 14

Samsung Electronics will announce its next flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, on March 14, according to multiple reports. That date would put the S IV announcement almost two months ahead of a similar one for the company's Galaxy S III phone last year.

The reports, first from Mobile-review's Eldar Murtazin and the website SamMobile, were confirmed by a later report from The Verge, which said that, according to unnamed sources familiar with Samsung's plans, the company will "definitely" announce the S IV March 14, likely in the United States.

A Samsung spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year Samsung announced the S III at a media event in London on May 3. The phone made it to the U.S. market last summer and was a major hit, especially because Samsung secured widespread carrier distribution and plowed millions of dollars into marketing the device. 

Samsung noted in mid-January that global sales of its flagship Galaxy S smartphone line surpassed 100 million. Of the total, Samsung said the original Galaxy S, released in 2010, reached 24 million sales; the S II, released in 2011, had 40 million; and the S III, released in 2012, achieved more than 40 million unit sales as well. The Galaxy S line has been a key factor in pushing Samsung to become the top smartphone and overall handset maker in the world.

According to SamMobile, the S IV will run Android 4.2.2 and sport a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa (8-Core) processor, 4.99-inch Super AMOLED full HD display, 2 GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera. However, according to The Verge, Samsung will be focusing on software and service enhancements in the S IV much more than mere specs.  "The leap in cool new features from [Galaxy S III] to the next flagship will be bigger" than the leap from the S II to the S III, sources told The Verge.

For more:
- see this The Verge article
- see this SamMobile post
- see this CNET article

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